Freedom Series 2: Endless Skies
by Nail Strafer
Summary: Sonic and Tails find themselves alone for the very first time, and they must search for their place in a world that seems to have limitless possibilities for them.
1. End of a Burden

**Disclaimers:**

- I only own what I myself created, and nothing more. The character Nick Isaac is used with Nick Isaac Hedgehog's permission.

- Like with Freedom Series 1, this fanfic is mostly based on the universe of "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie", although it borrows some elements from other Sonic material. I should warn you, this fanfic is going to blaze its own trail plot-wise, rather than stick to Sonic canon. If you don't like that, you should stop reading now and find another fanfic.

- You should read Freedom Series 1: The Founding Fathers before reading this. Otherwise, some parts of this fanfic will probably confuse you. I should also warn you that this fanfic is more designed to set the plot up for future fanfics in Freedom Series, rather than be a standalone story.

**Chapter 1: End of a Burden**

**March 3rd, 2314 – 4:00 PM – Prower Residence, Forest Town, Elona**

"Tails, are you ready to try it again?" Sonic said, standing next to an exhausted Miles 'Tails' Prower in the backyard of the Prower house.

"Sonic...let me rest..." Tails gasped out.

"No way! I wanna see you try to fly again!"

"Ugh..."

About a month and a half ago, Kyle had taken Sonic and Tails on a ride in a helicopter, as a present for Tails' sixth birthday. He'd been half regretting his dad giving him that gift ever since. That had given Sonic the idea of using Tails' twin appendages like the propellers of the helicopter to get him to fly. Well, to their surprise, their little experiment had actually worked. While it was cool that Tails could fly now with his tails, he didn't like at all how Sonic kept pestering him to show off his flying every ten seconds. He thought his tails were going to fall off at this rate.

"Alright, I'll do it..." Tails muttered.

"Alright!" Sonic said, jumping for joy. "Thanks Tails!"

Tails spun his tails around again, just like the rotor on a helicopter. The trimmed blades of grass beneath his feet fanned out from the downdraft as he slowly rose into the air. He rose up about two feet off of the grass, but then collapsed to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

"That was great! Do it again Tails!" the twelve-year-old hedgehog yelled.

"Sonic...don't make me fly again."

Despite his real name being Miles, Sonic had constantly called him Tails instead ever since he was born. He remembered how his parents had tried to get Sonic to stop doing that, but after a while they had given up. Soon after, everyone in the Prower household started calling him Tails instead of his real name. It didn't bother him that much though. Miles sounded a little strange anyway, and Tails had a certain ring to it that he liked.

"SONIC! TAILS!" a voice called from the house. It sounded like Tails' dad's voice.

_My dad is finally home again... He'll make Sonic stop. _

Tails breathed a sigh of relief as he lay on the grass. Natalie, Tails' mom, worried quite a bit over anything that happened to him. After she'd learned about his and Sonic's little experiment with flying, she'd almost had a seizure. She'd constantly told everyone about how dangerous it would be for Tails to fly, that if he kept doing it he'd run into power lines or hit a tree or something. So, she'd done everything she could to keep Tails from flying. That included forcing Tails' dad Kyle to keep an eye on Sonic and Tails so that they couldn't practice flying.

Unfortunately though, Kyle ran off this afternoon to get some groceries. As soon as Tails saw his father's car pull out of the driveway from his bedroom window, Sonic zipped into the room and dragged him to the backyard. Tails had been forced to fly around the backyard for the last hour now, and he was really worn out. Hopefully though, now that Kyle was back, he could finally have a rest.

---

"SONIC! TAILS!" Kyle called again from inside the house, his hands full of grocery bags.

He put the bags down on the table in the kitchen and wondered where the two could be. He looked around the kitchen a little, and then glanced out the window. He saw his son laying face down in the grass, while Sonic stood next to him.

_Oh no... Sonic's at it again. Natalie is going to have a fit when she finds out about this._

This wasn't the first thing that Sonic had done to upset Kyle's wife. Ever since being adopted about six years ago, Sonic had done all sorts of things that she didn't like.

Like, for example, there were Sonic's daily runs through the Elona wilderness where he often said he crossed two hundred miles per hour. At first, Natalie had tried to stop Sonic from running, afraid he'd kill himself one day if he did it long enough. However, there was simply nothing she could do about stopping him, since there wasn't anything or anyone in the country fast enough to keep up with him.

_Even I can't keep up with him, _Kyle thought. _ And I was able to keep up with his dad Swift for crying out loud. That kid is a whole other story from his dad. I never realized how right I was when I said that Sonic's name was perfect for him. Just how fast can that little blue hedgehog go? _

Kyle walked over to the backyard door, and opened it up.

"SONIC! Stop making Tails fly!" Kyle yelled across the yard.

As his name left Kyle's mouth, Sonic instantly jumped into a back flip away from Tails and landed near the fence bordering the edge of the yard.

"Sonic! Get over here right now! If you run away I'll ground you for a week!"

He saw Sonic get a rebellious grin on his face, and then he jumped over the wall. Kyle could hear him sprinting off on the street just outside the yard. He broke into a run to try to catch Sonic. Despite the fact Kyle had a fully roboticized body, he easily got up to speed, and leaped over the fence after Sonic. As he landed on the pavement, he could barely distinguish the young hedgehog's form way down the road. He wasn't moving, which meant he was waiting for Kyle.

Kyle ran towards him as fast as he could, while Sonic stood still. Maybe Sonic would decide to be cooperative this time. Unfortunately, when Kyle had about thirty more feet left to cover to reach Sonic, the hedgehog took off running again down the road. Sonic turned his head around and flashed a broad grin at Kyle.

"SONIC! STOP NOW!" Kyle shouted.

However, instead of stopping, Sonic put on so much speed that he left a trail of flames behind him. At that point, Kyle just gave up and stopped running.

Even if he still had his lighter flesh and blood body, there was no way he'd be able to catch up to Sonic. He briefly glanced down at his metal body, which he'd been living in for the last six years now. He'd gotten it when he'd been captured and roboticized by Robotnik during an attack on his main base. He'd originally lost his free will with his old body as well. Fortunately though, Sonic's father Swift managed to destroy the mind control program by electrocuting Kyle with a high voltage power line. However, Robotnik called a surprise squadron of robots to defend himself, and the robots killed Swift before Kyle could get him to safety.

To make matters worse, Robotnik managed to escape his secret base after killing Swift. Not only was Kyle denied his chance to avenge Swift, it also meant that Robotnik was free to attack Planet Freedom again if he so desired. However, nobody had heard a peep from Robotnik since then. Some thought he was dead, but one thing that Robotnik told Kyle during the fighting had haunted him to this very day:

"_You Freedomians...you think you've already won. Remember what I said the last time you caught me? I'll say it again in case you forgot: This is only the beginning."_

_He's not dead. I know it, _Kyle thought. _ I don't think he'd go down that easy. For all anyone knows, he's just regrouping...recovering from the loss of his main base, and getting ready to strike again..._

He then heard footsteps on the pavement behind him, and turned around. It was his son Tails.

"Hey son," Kyle said. "I'm sorry I left you alone with Sonic again."

"It's okay..." Tails said between deep breaths. "I just need to sit down..."

He sat down on the curb of the road, breathing hard. Kyle watched him as he rested, and then sat down on the curb with him. Suddenly, his head snapped up, as if he had suddenly recalled something important.

"Hey! I remembered, I got a call from Mom while you were gone!"

"Really? What did she say?"

"She said that the de-roboticizer is finished!"

At the mention of the de-roboticizer being finished, Kyle was so happy he felt like he was walking on air. Finally, after being a robot for more than half a decade, he could return to his original flesh and blood body! He almost felt like a teenager who was finally getting his braces off after having to wear them for so many months. Only, the happiness was multiplied several times over.

"That's great!" Kyle said, grinning as wide as he could.

"She says we should go over to her lab at the college right away! Finally, I'll get to see what you really look like! Like how you looked in your wedding pictures with Mom!"

"That's right! I've been a robot your whole life, haven't I?"

Tails nodded.

"Well, don't worry," Kyle said as he jumped up into a stand. "We'll go as soon as Sonic gets back!"

As he said that, Sonic actually did come running back down the street. Seeing the two foxes sitting on the curb on the side of the road, he screeched to a halt.

"Hey Sonic!" Kyle shouted.

"You can ground me now if you want... I'm tired of running." Sonic said, facing down at the blacktop. Apparently, he felt sorry that he had run off so recklessly, which was a rarity for Sonic. Perhaps he didn't like how he had left Tails exhausted in the backyard like that.

"Never mind about grounding you!" Kyle said.

Sonic snapped his head up, surprised by Kyle's reply.

"What?! Why?"

"Natalie just finished the de-roboticizer!"

"Really? Awesome!" Sonic smiled as big as he could.

"Come on! Let's go to the college right now! I can't wait to be back in my old body again!"

The three of them ran back to the house, jumped in Kyle's car, and rushed to Elona University as fast as they could.

**20 minutes later, at Elona University...**

Kyle was ecstatic the whole way to the college. Normally, he was a careful driver, but he was so excited he went at least ten miles per hour over the speed limit the whole way, and even ran a few stop signs and red lights. He pulled up in front of the science buildings, and jumped out of the car as fast as he could. Sonic and Tails trailed behind him. Finally, he reached Natalie's lab, and pushed the double doors open. In the center of the room was the machine, the de-roboticizer. Natalie was standing in front of it with a broad grin on her face. Kyle smiled back at his wife.

"Kyle!" Natalie said, her yellow fur and glasses shining from the bright lights in the ceiling.

"Natalie, you finally finished it!" Kyle said as he ran over to Natalie. "Thank you so much for all of your hard work!"

"You're welcome, sweetie," Natalie said, the two of them hugging. "I'm sorry about keeping you waiting so long..."

"That's okay, Natalie," Kyle said, as he and Natalie turned to look at the machine. "I totally understand why it took you so long, from everything you've told me."

The reason it had taken Natalie so long to figure out a way to reverse roboticization was because of how complex roboticizers were. The science behind Robotnik's dreaded machine was almost as complex as rocket science, maybe even more so. There were lots of totally original parts and forces behind making it work. No other scientists besides Robotnik had ever seen anything like what made up the roboticizer. It had taken many years of careful experimenting and tinkering to figure out exactly how the entire process of roboticization went. That itself was only half the job. Then, a way to make the entire process work in reverse had to be found, which was no easy task with how complex it was in the first place. Kyle understood that it had taken a lot of sweat and blood, and even a few small miracles to get the de-roboticizer finished.

But now, here it was...ready to transform Kyle back into what he used to be, a flesh and blood fox. Kyle and Natalie took their eyes off of the machine, and then looked back at Sonic and Tails. The two of them were so excited about this moment that they had momentarily forgotten that the kids were there. Kyle laughed a little, and then looked back at Natalie.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Natalie said. "Get in!"

"Sure!" Kyle said, moving towards the metal platform in the middle of the room.

Natalie walked over to a large computer on one wall, and started pressing buttons and pulling levers. She watched the monitors as a glass cylinder descended down from the middle of the room. It slammed down over the metal platform that Kyle was now standing on. Kyle watched as his wife pressed more buttons.

Finally, she turned around and said, "It's ready!"

Kyle gave a thumbs-up sign and said, "Throw the switch!"

Natalie pulled down the red lever she had on the computer console. Blue energy rings surged across the outside of the chamber. A few moments later, a bright blue circle of light came up from the bottom of the glass chamber. As it passed over Kyle's body, he felt the metal transforming back into living tissue. Slowly but surely, the circle of light went from the soles of his feet all the way up to the tips of his big pointy ears. The process complete, Natalie raised the glass tube up into the ceiling, and Kyle stepped off of the platform. He was back to his old flesh and blood body again.

Kyle held his hands in front of his face, smiling as he saw that they were his original fingers, and not his metal ones. Instead of that old metal, his fingers were now covered with his original coat of red fur. He folded down his fingers a few times, forming fists with his hands. Then, he noticed other things. The red tint from his robot visual sensors were gone, as well as the heads-up display. He was seeing through his natural eyes now. He could also smell the scents of the room. He could smell the coffee on a desk nearby, he could smell his wife's perfume; he could smell everything!

"Is this real? It's like a dream..." Kyle said.

"It's real, all right," Natalie said, coming over to Kyle.

The two of them hugged and kissed. The two of them then looked to Sonic and Tails.

"Tails..." Kyle said. "How do I look?"

"You look just like you did in your wedding pictures," Tails said. "You look great!"

"Come over here, big guy! You too, Sonic!" Kyle said.

Sonic and Tails came over, and the four of them hugged together for a moment.

"I can't believe it!" Tails said, feeling his father's arms, covered with their red fur instead of the metal he had grown accustomed to. "You really are back to normal! No more metal!"

"Yeah, I know!" Kyle said.

"This is a great invention, Natalie!" Sonic said.

"Thank you Sonic!" Natalie said back.

"Hey, what do you say we go out and celebrate?" Kyle said. "Since this is the first time in six years that I've been able to eat, let's go out to a great restaurant and buy the tastiest and most expensive meals on the menu!"

"Or we could just go get chilidogs..." Sonic suggested.

"Heh, that sounds good too Sonic," Natalie said.

"Wow, that's a surprise," Tails remarked. "You like health food, not chilidogs."

"I know, son," Natalie said, wiping a tear out from under her glasses. "I'm so happy I don't care what we eat!"

"Come on, let's go!" Kyle said.

The four of them started to step towards the exit out of the laboratory. Two seconds later, a massive explosion blew apart an entire wall of the laboratory. Parts of the ceiling collapsed, sending debris crashing down to the floor. A sickening crack of bone could be heard, and Kyle turned his eyes to the source of the noise. Natalie had been crushed underneath a giant chunk of the concrete wall, only her head and arms showing. A pool of blood was spreading from where she lay. Her glasses had fallen off of her face, and lay broken on the tile floor.

"NATALIE!" Kyle screamed, the first tears he'd produced in years streaming down his face. He rushed over to her side and kneeled next to her, but she wasn't breathing. Kyle felt for a pulse, but there wasn't one. She was dead, killed instantly by the block of cement that had crushed her body.

_No...Natalie! What caused that explosion?!_

Two missiles flew in through the new hole in the wall, hitting the de-roboticizer and its computer. The second and third explosions sent a shower of metal, glass, and plastic flying all over the room. A metal piece of shrapnel sliced past Kyle's left leg, tearing a deep cut that started bleeding profusely. He screamed out in pain, clutching at the wound. Kyle hadn't felt real pain in a very long time due to his robot body, and so the deep cut really hurt him a lot.

When the dust finally settled and the last pieces of debris clattered to the floor, a jet engine could be heard approaching from outside the building. Kyle, Sonic and Tails turned their eyes to the hole in the wall to see what was making the noise. Dr. Robotnik appeared in his egg ship, hovering above the destruction of Natalie Prower's laboratory, and gloating over it all.


	2. A Fiery Finish

**Chapter 2: A Fiery Finish**

**March 3rd, 2314 – 4:50 PM – Elona University, Forest Town, Elona**

"It's been a long time hasn't it Kyle?" Robotnik said. "About six years, right? Anyway, I thought I should drop by and say hello to you. Let's keep this brief, because I must be off to attack Planet Freedom again with my newly rebuilt army..."

Kyle was already boiling with rage from Robotnik killing his wife, but this casual conversational tone of Robotnik's sent him over the edge.

"YOU KILLED HER!" Kyle screamed. "I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEART OUT FOR THAT!"

"Such harsh words..." Robotnik muttered.

"Dad, are you okay?" Tails asked.

"I'll be okay, son..." Kyle said.

Kyle stood up from his kneeling position, but staggered from the bleeding gash in his left leg. He fell down to his knees again, unable to take the pain from his deep cut. Kyle tore his shirt off and tied it around the cut as a makeshift bandage. He got back up to a stand again, trying his hardest to bear the pain.

"While I can't understand why anyone would want to make an antidote for such a wonderful thing like roboticization," Robotnik said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "It's been quite instrumental in your death, which I like."

Kyle looked up at Robotnik from his cut.

"I deliberately waited until right after you were de-roboticized to attack. If you were still roboticized, you would probably be beating me right now. It's so sad that you were so eager to change back into your original, inferior organic form."

"That robot body was like hell itself Robotnik! There's no way it's greater than my old body!"

"But in your robot body you couldn't feel any pain. I'm sure you're not having any joy right now with that cut, are you?"

Kyle started to step towards Robotnik, but already he was stumbling due to the limp in his leg. He got down on one knee again. Tails and Sonic ran over to help him up.

"Dad! Don't fight him!" Tails said. "You can't even walk right!"

"Tails, I have to fight him," Kyle said as he shakily stood up. "I don't want him to get away with killing Natalie...or Swift."

"No Kyle!" Sonic said. "I don't want you to die trying to get even!"

"You should listen to your little brat kids," Robotnik said with a laugh. "I think they're already smarter than you. How about you just let me kill you and your kids quickly and painlessly instead? You'll be a complete family again, at least in the afterlife..."

"Kids...I want you to run," Kyle said. "Get as far away from here as you can, while you still have time."

"Dad! No!" Tails said.

"Sonic, look after Tails for me, will you?" Kyle said.

"Kyle, you're killing yourself!" Sonic yelled. "Don't fight Robotnik! Let me fight him instead! I can take him!"

"If you don't run now, we'll all die," Kyle said. "I'm already dead with this leg anyway. Get to the Tornado. I've shown you how to fly it before, so you should be able to use it to get away. Run away, I don't know where, just run!"

"Don't do it dad!" Tails screamed, tears streaming down his face.

"DAMMIT! RUN KIDS! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Kyle screamed at Sonic and Tails.

Sonic and Tails were so shocked by Kyle's sudden outburst that they stumbled backwards. Even Robotnik was a bit taken aback by how angry Kyle was.

"Come on Tails," Sonic said, grabbing Tails' hand. "Your dad needs us to go."

"Okay..." Tails said. He took one last look at Kyle, before he said, "Daddy...beat Robotnik..."

"I will son, don't worry," Kyle said. "Now go!"

Tails nodded, tears still streaming down his face.

"Hold on Tails!" Sonic shouted. One second later, there was a sonic boom as Sonic ran out of the room while holding onto Tails. The next second, the two kids were gone. Kyle and Robotnik were alone now. Kyle walked towards Robotnik's ship, limping from the wound in his leg.

_I'll be with you soon, Natalie and Swift. I just hope that this will be enough of a sacrifice for our kids._

---

Robotnik chuckled a little as Kyle limped towards his ship. That stupid red fox actually thought he could take him on, in his condition? At the same time though, Robotnik was a little impressed with how much he was willing to give up for his children.

"Very brave..." Robotnik commented. "Too bad it will be for nothing. As soon as I'm finished with you, I'm going to hunt down your cute little kids and tear them limb from limb!"

Robotnik pressed some buttons inside his ship, and two laser cannons popped out of the sides of the craft. The mad doctor lined up the targeting crosshairs on Kyle's head, and depressed the trigger. However, with surprising speed, Kyle snatched up a piece of concrete sitting on the floor next to him. He then blocked his head with the concrete, so that the laser blasts harmlessly hit it instead. Kyle then limped as fast as he could to get behind what was left of the de-roboticizer.

"Hiding won't help you Kyle!" Robotnik shouted.

Robotnik heard Kyle grunting behind the de-roboticizer, wondering what he was doing. It sounded like he was trying to lift something heavy. A few seconds later, he emerged from behind the machine, holding a large canister. He stumbled on his bad leg to hold it, but he still managed to remain standing. Suddenly, he hurled the thing right at Robotnik's ship. Robotnik frantically brought his laser cannons to bear on the container, and fired upon it. However, as soon as he had hit the cylinder, it exploded into a massive fireball that blasted his ship into a wall.

"How do you like the fuel my wife uses for her de-roboticizer?!" Kyle yelled.

Robotnik screamed out his rage. He fought with the control stick of his ship, but it wouldn't move. It was stuck. Robotnik turned around, and saw that his egg ship had been imbedded in the wall by the explosion. Robotnik growled, and applied more power to his thrusters.

"Come on!" Robotnik shouted, fighting to get his ship in the air again.

Meanwhile, he saw Kyle limping as fast as he could towards the hole in the wall that had been blasted open earlier. Robotnik finally managed to tear his ship out of the wall, and maneuvered it to chase after Kyle. He flew through the hole in the wall, and saw Kyle running through the university parking lot just outside of the destroyed laboratory.

_Why is he going through there? There's no cover in the parking lot..._

He then noticed Kyle stopping next to a silver luxury sedan. The fox pulled a key chain out of his pocket, and pressed a button on a door remote.

"Think you can get away from me in your stupid car, you stupid fox?!" Robotnik shouted.

However, instead of jumping into the car, Kyle opened the back trunk, and reached inside for something.

"Always knew you weren't dead Robotnik!" Kyle yelled, still fumbling with the trunk of his car. "That's why I take this with me everywhere I go!"

Kyle finally turned away from his car, something large and gray in his hands. It was an assault rifle, the same assault rifle that he had used six years ago when the Freedomian Army was attacking his original secret base. Only now, a grenade launcher was attached to the bottom as well. Kyle opened fire on Robotnik's ship, the rifle rounds pinging off of the metal. Robotnik ducked his head to avoid the shots. When the firing stopped, Robotnik looked out from behind the control console.

"You may have a gun, but do you really think it will make much of a difference?" Robotnik asked.

Kyle pulled the trigger on the grenade launcher attached to his rifle. The explosive round flew through the air and hit the underside of his egg ship. The ensuing explosion destroyed the frontal hover jets. Robotnik's ship lurched forward, unable to stay at a standstill in the air. Robotnik saw that he was flying straight down into the pavement, and pulled up quickly on the control stick. He barely managed to avoid hitting the ground, and scraped across the tops of a few parked cars. Soon he was back up in the air, and had turned his ship around again to face Kyle. Kyle however wasn't facing him. He was busy grabbing more ammunition from his car's trunk.

"You'll pay for that, Kyle!" Robotnik screamed.

Kyle turned around, a terrified look on his face. He hurriedly opened up the barrel of the grenade launcher, and popped in a new grenade. However, just as he closed the barrel again, Robotnik fired a volley of missiles at Kyle. He managed to just barely get out of the path of the rockets, but they slammed into the row of parked cars he was standing next to. Explosions tore down the line of parked cars like a firecracker. Kyle was thrown to the blacktop in a heap, his flesh burnt and blood seeping out from multiple wounds.

Robotnik deployed a large robotic arm on the bottom of his ship, and hovered next to Kyle. The robot arm grabbed Kyle by the lower torso, and brought him up into the air. He hung limply within the arm's grasp. The rifle in Kyle's hand clinked against the metal of the arm. Robotnik moved the arm so that Kyle was now being held at eye level with him. Kyle slowly reared his head up from its limp position, so that he was looking at Robotnik.

_Before I kill him, I'd like one last talk with him. _

"How do you like your reward for protecting your children?" Robotnik sneered.

"Can't think of a better way to die, Robotnik. Dying to save my kids."

"All you did was delay my search for them by a few minutes. You've thrown away your life over nothing, Kyle."

"I know my kids will get away, Robotnik. They're too fast to catch. Remember how fast Swift and me were? Well, our kids are even faster than that, and they're only twelve and six right now. You should have killed them when you had the chance. Now they're gonna grow up and kill you instead."

Robotnik started laughing very hard at that statement. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, one hand on his forehead.

"Ha...very funny Kyle. I still say that your sacrifice is for nothing."

There was a click. Robotnik opened his eyes and looked up.

"You sure?" Kyle said, his finger on the trigger for the grenade launcher. "I'll die, but I'm going out with a bang!"

"NO!" Robotnik screamed.

Kyle squeezed the trigger for the grenade launcher, and one second later the grenade slammed right into the front of his egg ship. While the ship absorbed most of the explosion, the blast badly burned Robotnik's face and upper body. The robotic arm that Kyle was holding was smashed to pieces, and the fox's body fell to the ground. Robotnik's ship took a nosedive into the burning cars that he had destroyed earlier. Robotnik limply reached for the emergency eject button, and managed to slam it down. His chair was sent flying into the air, before his small craft crashed and exploded. A parachute popped out of Robotnik's ejector seat, and he slowly drifted to the ground below with its help. He hit the ground with a hard thump.

Robotnik limply looked around. His vision was very blurry, and he was in extreme pain. Being so close to the center of that explosion had singed his upper body quite badly. He took off his glasses, and pressed the button on them to call for backup. He heard the distant echoes of a jet engine nearby. That would be his rescue jet, which he had put on call in case things got ugly. After he put the glasses back on, he noticed Kyle lying on the pavement nearby. His body had been scorched black by the explosion, and he wasn't moving. Robotnik weakly smiled at that sight.

_At least that's...one...victory... _Robotnik thought, as the rescue jet set down near him. He slipped into unconsciousness shortly thereafter from the pain.


	3. Reflections

**Chapter 3: Reflections**

March 4th, 2314 – 5:30 AM – Lissof Forest, Tneicna 

Lissof Forest... Largely unpolluted by the hands of men or Freedomians, it is one of the most beautiful places on Planet Freedom. Below the high, snowy peaks of the mountains lay endless valleys of tall trees. Many of these massive trees have lives extending for decades, some even centuries. The seeming immortality of Lissof Forest has impressed many generations, and it will continue to impress many more.

Over the centuries, many people have visited the forest. They are sure that it will always be there for them. Hunters come searching for a kill to put on their family table for dinner, sure that the forest will always provide some kind of prey. Hikers often come through this area when they are thirsty, believing that the melting snow in the high mountains will produce steams for them to drink from. Writers, artists, and poets also come to the forest for inspiration, believing that the beautiful scenery will give them an idea for their next work. This forest is eternal, and so is its generosity. It could be compared to the sun, which always rises every morning and sets every evening without fail.

Speaking of the sun, it began its daily climb into the sky at this moment on this day. Slowly but surely, the warm light washed over the forest once again, awakening the creatures living there as it passed over their homes. Eventually, the light reached a small tent, which was pitched near the base of one of the massive tree trunks. Inside, a young white wolf lightly slept. As the rays of sunlight pierced through the thin walls of her tent, she slowly awoke.

_Another day...another day of running. _

She rose up out of her sleeping bag, still not feeling fully rested even after being in it for the last eight hours. It had been days since the last time she had gotten a good night's rest in fact, since she had been constantly having to watch her back for danger. Even the tranquility of these woods had failed to soothe her, much to her dismay.

_If I don't feel safe out here, far out in the woods and far away from them, then I don't know if I'll feel safe anywhere._

She changed into her hiking clothes, and exited the tent. The wolf gazed at the dead campfire before her, which she had used to make a late supper last night. She had planned to only have a granola bar and water for breakfast today, since it would be a fast meal. That way, she could quickly get started walking towards the city of Nedlo, which was her destination for this journey.   
However, being groggy from lack of sleep had changed her mind. A decent breakfast would probably help wake her up. She started gathering wood for a campfire to make breakfast over. Within several minutes, her fire was going, and she was cooking a fish she had caught in a creek yesterday. The time it took for the fish to cook gave her a little more time to rest and think. 

_How long have they been chasing me? Eight...nine years? This has got to end. I wish someone were traveling with me right now, someone I can lean on. Someone like my brother, I think. When we were still kids and our parents were still alive, he was always there for me. At least he was, up until _that _time. I would still feel so much better with him at my side, even if he did leave me behind once before. _

The white wolf had come through this forest, hearing the legend that it always took care of those who came into it. While it had taken care of all her physical needs, it could do nothing to ease her fear of those people who were after her. What she had wanted the most, a feeling of safety, had not been given to her by the forest. It was rather sad that the legend hadn't proven completely true for her.

She cooked her fish over the fire for a while, before taking it off of the skillet and eating it. After finishing her breakfast, she quickly cleaned up her camp and put all of her stuff in her large hiking backpack she carried with her. Another long day of walking was ahead of her. Hopefully in a few more days though, she would be able to reach Nedlo and sleep in a bed instead of in her tent.

_Every time those guys find me again, I have to abandon a place I've decided to live, and run somewhere else to get away from them again. It's very sad having to say goodbye to the people I've met where I stay. Even so, I still try to make friendships with them. One day, I wish I could find some way to put a stop to this running, and finally get a permanent place to live. Then I could truly be a part of the place where I live, instead of just someone passing through. _

Finally prepared to go, the wolf began her walk to the north towards Nedlo, the capital city of Tneicna. Despite the fact they had found her everywhere she went, she hoped that this time they wouldn't find her again. It was the same hope she had every time she moved into a new city. This optimistic thinking, she thought, was what kept her going. It had gotten her this far...

---

About fifty miles away in another part of the forest, the red and silver Tornado was parked in a beautiful meadow covered with a blanket of flowers. Sonic and Tails were lying down underneath the plane's wings, trying to rest. However, it was quite difficult, with what had happened just yesterday. Tails whimpered in his sleep, probably in the middle of a nightmare about Robotnik killing his parents. Meanwhile, Sonic lay down on the ground with his eyes wide open, staring at the bottom of the Tornado's left wing and unable to sleep. He was running through his head over and over what had happened after Kyle had ordered him and Tails to run away. He was unable to stop thinking about what he had seen.

_Kyle ordered Tails and me to run away so that he could fight Robotnik, and we did that. We took off towards the airport where my dad's plane, the Tornado was, so that we could escape. However, on the way there, Tails started crying and he yelled at me to turn back. At first, I was determined to get to the Tornado, but Tails' crying started to get to me. His poor dad was being killed, and we were doing nothing to stop it. Finally, I realized that I'd never forgive myself if I didn't help him, and so we both ran back to the university._

_But...when we got there...it was too late. Kyle's burned corpse was lying on the pavement, in the middle of all those burning cars. Tails cried his heart out over that, and so did I. Both of his parents were dead now, just like mine. I should have ignored what Kyle said and helped him. Now, just about all of our parents are dead because of Robotnik. I feel so terrible for not running to help sooner. I hate Robotnik so much now. I need to...must...KILL HIM! I will kill him one day...I swear that I will kill him for what he has done to Tails and me!_

The sun had started to come out as he finished that thought, and he rose up from lying on the ground. The sun looked so beautiful, coming up from behind the mountains in the distance like that. However, with what he was going through, Sonic hated seeing the sun like that. It looked so bright and cheerful, while he was full of misery and hate. It wasn't fair. Sonic turned away from the sun, looking in the opposite direction.

_After we saw Kyle's corpse, we ran back to the airport and got in the Tornado. We knew that since Robotnik was done with our parents, he'd probably come after us next. Tails got in the cockpit and did the piloting, while I rode on the wings. I watched Kyle ride on the wings a few times for fun, so I thought I could do it too. It turned out to be less scary than I thought it would be. After we were in the air, we took a warp zone here to Tneicna, and spent the rest of the day camping out in these woods. I'm a coward hiding from Robotnik like this. I should be going out and looking for him so I can kill him!_

He then took a long hard look at Tails, sleeping lightly in the grass next to him.

_This poor little guy...his mother was killed right in front of his eyes, and then he saw his dad burned to death. He must be suffering a lot. Well...since Kyle did look after me when my dad was dead, I think I'll look after Tails since Kyle is dead. It's only fair that I pay back Kyle for everything he's done for me. If you're watching me right now Kyle, don't worry. I'll take care of Tails the best I can._

"Tails?" Sonic whispered, kneeling next to the twin-tailed fox. "Tails...wake up."

"Uh..." Tails mumbled, his eyes opening. He raised himself up into a sitting position. "What time is it? It's still dark."

"The sun just came out."

"That early? Mom never woke me up this early before..."

Suddenly, Tails' eyes widened, as he remembered what had happened yesterday.

"Mommy...Daddy..." Tails mumbled as he started crying again. "They can't be dead...can't be...can't..."

"I'm sorry Tails," Sonic said, sitting down next to Tails and putting an arm around his shoulder.

"I can't believe that Mom and Dad are dead. That can't happen! They're my Mom and Dad!"

"Tails, I know this is hard for you, but they did die."

"They're not dead!" Tails said as he shook himself away from Sonic. He stood up and ran away from Sonic, his teardrops pattering on the ground as he moved.

"Tails! Come back!" Sonic yelled. He took off running and caught up to Tails in a split second. He grabbed Tails, causing him to slow down.

"Let me go Sonic!" Tails screamed, struggling to break free of Sonic's grip.

"Tails...look. Your parents are dead. Not believing they're dead won't bring them back. It didn't bring my dad back when he died."

Tails turned around and looked at Sonic, tears streaming down his eyes. The example of Sonic's father Swift seemed to have gotten his attention.

"Tails, when my dad died six years ago, I was just like you," Sonic said. "I had a hard time believing that he was gone. But that didn't change anything. When I did start to believe, I began to feel better after a while. Running from the truth was a lot harder than accepting it. Please, just accept that your parents died. You'll feel better after a while."

Tails just stared at Sonic quietly, not saying anything.

Finally, he bowed his head, and said, "I understand...Mom and Dad are dead, and I can't do anything to change that. And...I'll feel better if I just wait."

"That's right. I don't think Kyle would want us to be sad forever after he died to save us."

"You're right," Tails said, wiping his tears away. "Dad wouldn't like it if I stayed sad."

He started to walk back towards the Tornado. Sonic followed him.

"But..." Tails said. "Since Mom and Dad are dead, what are we supposed to do now? Who's going to take care of us?"

"We'll have to take care of ourselves," Sonic said.

"Ourselves?" Tails said, totally shocked. "We're not old enough to do that!"

"I took care of myself loads of times when I was still living with my old dad. I'm talking about Swift, not Kyle. I think I can handle it."

"But what about me?" Tails said, pointing to himself.

"I'll take care of you."

"But you're only twelve and a half!"

"Kyle asked me to take care of you before we ran away, and that's what I'm going to do Tails. He's counting on me to take care of you."

"If Daddy believes in you... I think I believe in you too."

Sonic smiled. He remembered when he had decided to be adopted into the Prower family, because of what his dad Swift had told Kyle before Swift died.

"_I'm so sorry, Sonic," he told me. "Please...can you ever forgive me? I'll do anything I can for you. I want to do it to pay back Swift for everything he's done for me. He told me with his last breath to take care of you... I'll understand if you don't forgive me. I made a lot of mistakes..."_

"_No, I forgive you," I said back. "You must have been really good friends with Daddy if he wanted you to take care of me. So, I forgive you then, and I'll be in your family."_

Tails then asked Sonic, "So...what do we do now?"

Those words brought Sonic out of his daydream.

Sonic said, "Well...uh...I think the first thing we should do is try looking for a new home."

"Why can't we just go back to our old house?" Tails said.

"Because Robotnik will probably be looking for us there," Sonic said, with a serious tone in his voice. "He killed your parents, so he might be coming after us next."

"Oh...you're right," Tails said as he looked at the ground. "We need to find some secret place to live, where Robotnik won't find us."

"That sounds like a good idea. But where?" Sonic said. He tapped his foot on the ground, while trying to think of somewhere they could go.

"I have an idea," Tails said, smiling. "Why don't we just keep flying around the planet until we find a good place to stay?"

"That's not much of a plan, but it's better than staying in these woods for the rest of our lives."

"Yeah. Well, what do you say? Let's get going!"

"Alright!"

Sonic and Tails jumped in the Tornado. Minutes later, they were flying off into the air and into the endless skies, the possibilities of their future as endless as all of that blue. They just had to find the right place in that infinity.


	4. Some New Faces

**Chapter 4: Some New Faces**

**March 4th, 2314 – 12:00 PM – Erople, Tneicna**

Later that day, the Tornado landed in a vacant field outside of the town of Erople. Sonic and Tails had been in such a hurry to hide from Robotnik that they had forgotten to gather up supplies before they left their home. And so, here they found themselves, looking for food, water, and other things they would need to get at this place.

They strolled down the main street of the town, gazing at all of the sights. It looked like they had stepped right into the pages of a history book for Planet Freedom. A lot of the streets were constructed of hard-packed dirt. The ones that were paved were made of rough cobblestone. Nobody was using a car at all. Everyone was either walking, or riding in carts used as taxis. All of the males were dressed in rough-looking shirts and pants, while the females wore beautiful hand-made cloaks of a variety of colors. The place was packed with stands containing various goods, and vendors calling out their wares. All of the buildings were constructed of faded wood or rough stone, and most of them looked very old.

"Hey Sonic..." Tails said. "How come this place is so old looking?"

"Don't you know?" Sonic asked. "We're in Tneicna."

"Yeah...so?"

"You mean you never learned about Tneicna in your history class?"

"No. We never got to Tneicna in there."

"Well, okay, I'll tell you about this place. Did you know that humans have only been on this planet for about 110 years?"

"No," Tails said, surprised. "I thought that humans always lived here with Freedomians."

"That's wrong. Anyway, humans first came to this planet about the year 2205 in spaceships. They came from a planet called Earth. When they found out that we, the Freedomians, lived on this planet, they decided to give their technology to us. And that's why we had most of the machines we had at home."

"What does that have to do with this place?"

"I'll tell you. When the humans first showed up, there were some Freedomians who were scared of them. They didn't want the humans or their technology. So, these anti-human Freedomians made a country around the city of Nedlo, the old capital of our planet, and they built a country without anything human in it. In this way, they could live just like humans had never come to Planet Freedom. And that's why the people around here are still living like it's 2004 or something."

"Oh, I see now. But, it was a lot nicer in Forest Town, when we had stuff like cars, video games, computers, and all those other things...like that white wolf over there has..."

"What wolf?"

"Over there," Tails said, pointing his finger down the street towards a small outdoor restaurant.

There was a white wolf sitting at one of the rickety wooden tables, and she was using a laptop computer. She was also dressed in modern day hiking gear, and had a large backpack on the ground next to her table. Clearly she wasn't a local, and she looked very out of place in this street.

"Maybe we could go talk to her," Sonic said. "She looks lonely out here, and I want to know what she's doing in a place like this."

"Okay," Tails said.

The hedgehog and fox strolled over to where the white wolf was sitting, and stopped next to her table. She was wearing headphones and was watching something on her computer, so she didn't hear the two of them approaching. Sonic looked to see what was on her computer screen, and he saw that she was watching a movie of some kind with the built-in DVD player.

Sonic tapped her on the shoulder. The wolf turned around to look at the two of them. She had a terrified look on her face. However, when she saw that it was just two little kids, the look of fear melted off of her face. She put on a warm smile.

"Oh...thank goodness," the wolf said. "I thought you were somebody else. Anyway...umm...hi! Who are you?"

"My name is Sonic Hedgehog," Sonic said.

"And my name is Miles Prower," Tails said. "But everyone calls me Tails instead."

"I can see why," the wolf said with a grin, her eyes moving to Tails' twin foxtails. She motioned towards the other chairs at her table. "Do you want to...sit down?"

"Okay," Sonic said, as he and Tails sat down.

"My name is Carrie...Carrie Strafer," the wolf said, as she turned off her laptop and put it away in her backpack.

"Carrie Strafer?" Sonic asked. "Well, Carrie, why are you here in the middle of Tneicna? I can tell you're not from around here, because you've got that computer with you."

"Heh heh, yeah, you're right. Anyway, I'm out here because I'm on my way to Nedlo. That's where my new home is going to be."

"Oh, okay," Sonic said. "Why'd you look so scared when I tapped you on the shoulder?"

"Well...uh... I...I thought you were a mugger or something. I shouldn't be using my laptop out in public like this. It attracts thieves."

"What movie were you watching on your computer?" Tails asked.

"That movie? It was Miss Saigon, a musical from Earth," Carrie explained.

"A musical?" Sonic said, as he frowned. "I hate musicals. I can't stand watching people dance around like idiots, singing about names or crime or newspapers or whatever else they were talking about before they started singing."

"Well, I love them so much that I have many musicals on DVD!" Carrie said with a broad grin. "I have others with me, like Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast. Well, since I told you why I'm here, can you tell me why you're here? Those flashy red and white sneakers of yours sure don't look Tneicnan, so you must be from somewhere else."

"We're looking for a new home, like you are," Sonic said. "Our parents...they..."

Carrie's smile faded. Apparently, she knew what Sonic was going to say next.

"They died?" she said, trying to finish Sonic's sentence.

Sonic nodded sadly. Tails turned his head down, a few tears dropping from his eyes.

"That's terrible!" Carrie said. "How did they die?"

Sonic and Tails told Carrie the whole sad tale, from the first missile attack in the lab, through finding Kyle burned to death, up to getting to Erople.

"I thought your last names sounded familiar," Carrie said. "So you're the sons of Swift Hedgehog and Kyle 'Kilometers' Prower, the heroes of the Robotnik War?"

"That's right..." Sonic said. "That's why Robotnik wanted to kill Tails' parents. Robotnik also said that he was ready to try to take over the planet again."

"I'd never thought I'd meet somebody like you two out here," Carrie said. "And you aren't even carrying any food or supplies with you?"

"No...we were so scared that all we could think about was running away. We didn't think about getting ready to leave."

"You poor kids," Carrie said. "You've been through so much! Maybe I could travel with you. It would be good for both of us. You could fly me in your plane to Nedlo much faster than I could walk there, and I could share my food and supplies with you as my payment for the ride. I'd also have someone to talk to on the way."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Sonic said, standing up from the table. "What do you say we get going now?"

"Sure, let's get going," Carrie said as she got out of her chair. "I can't wait to—"

Carrie suddenly stopped in mid sentence. A look of horror crossed her face. She looked around the busy city street, what exactly she was trying to see was unclear.

"Get as far away from me as you can, right now," Carrie said, the tone in her voice suddenly fearful. "Or they'll kill you too."

"What are you talking about, Carrie?" Tails asked.

"They're getting closer," Carrie said. She stepped backwards, accidentally knocking over her chair.

"Is this a joke or something Carrie?" Sonic said in an annoyed tone. He crossed his arms.

"It's no joke," Carrie said as she put on her backpack and walked out of the restaurant. "I have to get out of here now, before they find me!"

"Before who finds you?" Sonic asked.

"Leave me alone, or they'll kill you with me!"

After saying that, Carrie sprinted full tilt down the street, and was quickly out of sight.

"What's wrong with her?" Tails asked.

"I don't know Tails," Sonic said. "I think we should follow her."

He started to walk out down the street to follow her. Suddenly, Tails grabbed his arm.

"Let me go Tails!" Sonic said.

"Wait a second Sonic," Tails whispered. "Listen..."

Sonic stood still and listened. He didn't hear anything that sounded out of the ordinary. He heard the footsteps of dozens of people walking up and down the street, the rattling of the carts as their wheels rolled over the bumps, the people chatting over whatever was on their minds, the vendors calling out what they were selling. But nothing that caused him any sort of surprise.

"What am I listening for?" Sonic said.

"I can hear a car's horn from here," Tails said. "What's a car doing out here in this little ancient town?"

"Really?" Sonic said, surprised. "But I don't hear anything like that at all."

"I can probably hear it better than you because I have bigger ears. Just listen a little longer."

"Okay..."

Sonic stood still and focused all of his attention on listening for that car. He didn't hear the car at first, but after a few moments he finally heard it. The noise of the loud horn was weak at first, but it gradually got stronger as the car got nearer. Finally, the car emerged into view on the street. It was a big SUV, painted a sinister black.

The two Freedomians riding in the car were a tiger and a cheetah, both of them dressed in suits. Sonic was pretty sure that that these were the people Carrie had been referring to when she had said "they". The SUV had to move slowly through the street, since it was so crowded. The driver of the car, the tiger, honked at everyone that got in his way. He was also shouting and cursing at everyone as well.

"Get out of my damn way, or I'll run all of you over!" the tiger screamed in an English accent.

"He means it! He's run down people before!" the cheetah next to him said. He too had an English accent, and was waving a handgun around. "You'd do well to listen to him!"

As the car moved out of sight, Tails asked, "Are those the people who are after Carrie?"

"I bet they are," Sonic said. "Let's follow them. Don't let them notice that we're following them though."

Tails nodded. The two of them walked down the street, quietly following the truck as it continued through the town.

---

Carrie sprinted out of Erople as fast as she could, accidentally knocking over a few people in the process. However, she was in such a hurry that she didn't care at all. The men in the suits were near. She could feel their presence. Carrie didn't exactly know how she sensed the people who chased her, but she didn't really care. She had to get as far away from them as possible, before they found her again. At long last, she found her way to the city gate, and ran through it.

Carrie was now sprinting down a narrow dirt road leading away from the town. It looked like she was home free now. Soon, Erople's city gate vanished from view as the dirt road curved away into the forest. Carrie also felt the presence of her stalkers lessening. She could relax a little now, because she seemed to have given them the slip. Carrie slowed down from a run to a brisk walk.

_Boy, am I glad I got away again. It's hard to run like that with this heavy backpack. Too bad I had to run away from Sonic and Tails like that. All of us could have really used each other's help..._

As she walked down the road, she passed a few people. However, for the most part, she had the path all to herself. After a few more minutes of walking, the path went into a narrow passageway that was about one car length wide. High cliffs stretched up into the air on either side of the path. However, long vines with flowers on them stretched down from above, covering the rough rock walls. That made this part of the road rather pleasant to walk down. Carrie slowed down to a more relaxed walk, and breathed deeply, inhaling the sweet scents of the flowers around her.

_While it stinks that I wasn't able to get a flight straight to Nedlo, at least I can still stop and smell the roses while I walk. I don't have a ride, but I'll take what I can get. _

Suddenly, Carrie felt a cold prickling on the back of her neck, the same feeling she got whenever the assassins were close. She turned around to look back down the road. In the distance, she could hear the rumble of a car's engine...

_It's them! I have to hide, but where?_

Carrie was still inside the little canyon the road was traveling through. She looked down the path in the other direction, but couldn't see the end of the passageway from where she was. She couldn't get off the little path and hide somewhere, because these high rock walls bordered both sides of the road. The cliffs were way too high to climb up as well. She'd probably only get about halfway up before the car caught up with her.

_Run. It's my only choice._

Carrie sprinted down the dirt road through the small canyon. She could feel the presence of the killers growing ever stronger. Adding to her fear was the increasing growl of the car's motor. It was like the growl of a monster chasing after her, stalking her and thirsting for her blood. She took a glance behind her as she ran down a straightaway. She could finally see the car behind her as it rounded the bend. It was a big black truck, with two people inside.

A cheetah inside leaned out the window and pointed at her. The driver pressed down on the accelerator, and the truck shot forward. Carrie ran harder than she ever had in her entire life, already knowing she wouldn't be able to outrun that truck and yet trying to do it anyway. The path widened up to about two car lengths as she continued to run. The sound of the motor increased to a screaming howl, as it bore down on her. It was just like a horror movie, where the monster was chasing the girl and was finally about to catch her. Only this time, there would be no hero stepping in to save the day.

The truck blew past Carrie, and the driver applied the brake. The truck went into a skid on the dirt path, and came to a halt facing sideways on the road. While Carrie was grateful she hadn't become road kill, the people in the truck were about to get out and kill her anyway. She turned around and sprinted back down the road, away from the stopped vehicle. Behind her, she heard the click of the doors opening. The men getting out of the truck were yelling something, but she was so scared she didn't hear what they were saying.

There was a big rock that Carrie didn't notice in her path, and she tripped headlong over it. She collapsed to the ground in a heap, her clothes covered with dirt and mud from hitting the ground. She started to stand up, but the shadows of two men covered her. She turned around and looked up. It was a tiger and a cheetah, both of them dressed in black suits. They were the most recent killers who had been chasing Carrie. She'd managed to elude these suits three times before, but it looked like her luck had finally run out.

"Hello, girl," the tiger said in an English accent, a devilish grin on his face. "You're Carrie Strafer, correct? We finally meet face to face."

"Get up!" the cheetah said, also with an English accent. He roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her up off of the ground. The cheetah then painfully grabbed Carrie by her hair, pulling her head up. He put another arm around her lower chest, so that she couldn't run away.

"Don't worry, luv," the tiger said in a soothing tone. "We only want one thing from you: your life."


	5. No Escape from the Past

**Chapter 5: No Escape from the Past**

**March 4th, 2314 – 12:30 PM – Forest outside Erople, Tneicna**

On top of the cliffs above the roadway, Sonic and Tails watched the two men in the suits grab Carrie. The tiger and the cheetah started talking, but they were too far away to make out what was being said.

"I'm going to save her," Sonic said, moving towards the edge of the cliff, and getting ready to jump down.

"But Sonic!" Tails said. "They have guns! You could get killed!"

"Tails, I'm going to save her, no matter what you say," Sonic said as he turned around to face the fox. "I don't want somebody else to die because I ran away. I don't want her to end up like your dad."

"Sonic..." Tails said softly.

Sonic turned away from Tails and looked down below. The tiger pulled a revolver out of his jacket, and cocked it. He pointed it at Carrie's head.

"Oh crap," Sonic whispered. "He just pulled out his gun. Time to go!"

He leaped off of the cliff, feeling the brief moment of freefall as the rocky walls whistled past him. As soon as he hit the ground, he turned to face the two cats and Carrie. The tiger still had his revolver aimed at Carrie's head. Sonic acted quickly, dashing straight between the tiger and Carrie. He swiped the gun right out of the tiger's hand, and stopped standing a few yards away from them.

A second later, the tiger realized he wasn't holding his revolver anymore, and said, "What the hell? Where'd my gun go?"

"What just happened mate?" the cheetah said. "You had it in your hand one second ago..."

Sonic grinned, about to collapse with laughter. He had run past them so fast that they hadn't even seen him take the gun away.

Finally, he held out the revolver in his hand and said, "Are you looking for this?"

The tiger, cheetah, and Carrie turned to face Sonic.

"Wow..." the cheetah said. "That kid's got your gun Wallace!"

"How the bloody hell did you pull that one off?" Wallace the tiger asked. "You nicked it from me right in front of my face, and I didn't even see you do it!"

"I'm just too fast for you, that's all!" Sonic said with a grin.

"Enough of this, Wallace," John the cheetah said. "We've got a job to do here. Now get your gun back, kill the girl, and let's be off."

"Right mate," Wallace said, as he started to walk towards Sonic. The tiger towered over Sonic, since he was at least twice his size. When he reached Sonic, he said, "Alright kid, enough games. Give me that gun back, and I won't hurt you."

He started to reach towards Sonic with one massive hand, but Sonic moved so fast that he was standing behind Wallace before he could even lean over to reach down.

"Where'd you go!" Wallace shouted.

"He's behind you Wallace!" John said.

Wallace turned around, and his eyes were wide open in total surprise.

"Totally insane!" he said. "You using some kind of magic on me kid?"

"Never mind mate," John said. He pulled out his own revolver and pointed it at the back of Carrie's head. "I'll just kill her myself."

Sonic dashed straight towards Carrie and John. He pulled a move that his father Swift had shown him how to do a long time ago. He ducked and went into a roll, and became liked a spiked ball rolling along the ground. Sonic plowed right into John, causing him to crash into one of the rock walls and drop his gun at the same time. Sonic quickly swiped the gun off the ground, put it in the hand with Wallace's gun, and grabbed Carrie by her arm.

"Come on Carrie!" Sonic shouted. He started to pull her towards the pathway away from the two gangsters' SUV. "Let's go!"

"Oi! Hold it right there!" Wallace said. He stood with his legs and arms spread out, kind of like a wrestler. "You're not taking her anywhere kid! That girl's gotta die!"

"Says who?" Sonic said.

"My boss, that's who!" Wallace responded. "If she doesn't die, we're gonna be in quite a bit of trouble, me and my partner John are!"

John just moaned out a response from where he was imbedded in the wall, unable to say anything else.

"I don't care!" Sonic said. "I'm not letting you kill Carrie! You better get out of my way if you don't want to end up like your friend over there!"

"I'm not afraid of a little kid like you," Wallace said. "Let's go!"

He charged toward Sonic with a mighty roar, his mouth wide open with his fangs barred. As he was about to reach Sonic, he jumped up into the air. It looked like Wallace was going to try to tackle both of them. However, before he could reach Sonic, the hedgehog moved so fast that he and Carrie practically teleported right behind him. Wallace fell to the ground hard, with massive clouds of dust flying up around him. He growled out his frustrations, and turned around to face Sonic.

"Damn kid..." Wallace muttered.

He charged towards Sonic once again. However, Sonic let go of Carrie, ran towards him, and went into a roll. The impact of Sonic running into him sent Wallace flying backwards through the air. He screamed out in pain, just as he slammed into the side of his truck. The impact shattered windows on the truck, and left a big dent in the metal exterior. Wallace stayed standing up against the side of the truck for a moment or two, before he softly groaned and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"Wow, so incredible!" Carrie said. "You took out both of those big men like it was nothing! Now I know for sure you're the son of Swift Hedgehog!"

"Thanks..." Sonic said. "I'm glad you're ok. I didn't think I'd be able to do all of that without you getting hurt."

"Sonic!" Tails called out from above. "Is it safe to come down?"

"Yeah Tails!" Sonic yelled back.

Tails jumped off of the cliff, and spun his tails so that he could slowly fly down. Carrie looked at Tails' little flying trick with wide-open eyes.

"Whoa! You can fly with your tails like that!" Carrie said in amazement. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen! You two are the coolest kids I've ever met!"

Carrie continued to babble on about how great it was that Sonic could take out bad guys, and how Tails could fly like that without wings. However, Sonic simply stood there and smiled, looking at the two criminals he just defeated.

_It feels so great, being able to do what I just did and save a life. I feel so much stronger than I did before. I didn't save Kyle, but I can still save everyone else I meet along the way. From now on, I'm gonna help people in trouble and rescue them. One day, I'll even be strong enough to save the world from Robotnik... _

Sonic smiled, thinking about how great it would be to take down the one man who'd been responsible for the deaths of his dad, Tails' parents, and countless other people on this planet.

"Sonic? Sonic!" Carrie said, yelling into his ear. "Are you awake?"

That brought Sonic out of his little daydream. He turned to look at Carrie.

"What is it?" Sonic said.

"I was saying, I think we should get the soldiers from the town to come over here and arrest these guys. Then, after that, we can fly on to Nedlo. What do you think?"

"That sounds good," Sonic said. "Let's go!"

The three of them walked back towards Erople. They stopped at the city gates, where a few soldiers were stationed. They were only armed with spears and swords, but they could probably handle a couple of unconscious thugs easy enough. After telling them where Wallace and John were, and handing over the confiscated revolvers, Sonic, Tails, and Carrie got in the Tornado and flew off towards Nedlo, Carrie's destination. It had taken Carrie a little coaxing to get her to ride on the wings, but after Sonic said she could use some rope to secure herself to the wings and that Sonic would hold her hand, she changed her mind.

As they flew on through the air, Sonic said, "By the way, I forgot to ask you before. You weren't telling us the whole truth about why you're here when I first asked you about it, did you?"

"Uh...no..." Carrie mumbled, a bit of an embarrassed look on her face. "I guess the two guys in that truck tipped you off, huh?"

"Yeah," Tails said. "Why didn't you tell us before you ran away? We could have gotten you out of the town a lot faster."

"I was afraid they'd kill you," Carrie said. "I didn't want you dying over me, but boy was I wrong about you. Sonic, you can be my bodyguard any day."

"Heh, thanks Carrie," Sonic said with a grin. However, his smile quickly slipped away. "Anyway, why are those men after you anyway? Why do they want to kill you?"

"I don't have any idea Sonic. If I did, I'd go try to do something about it. But I don't, so I can't do anything except run. This isn't even the first time assassins have been chasing me."

"It's not?" Tails said in surprise.

"No. This is the fourth time in nine years I've had to go on the run again. And every time, I've had to say goodbye to a place that's been my home for at least a year, and to good friends I've made there."

"Nine years?" Sonic asked. "Wow! How old are you now?"

"I turned seventeen in December."

"You've been doing this since you were eight!" Sonic yelled.

"Yeah. The first time assassins came they killed my parents at my old home in Gerrant, which is the capital of Cictra. Me, my brother, and my baby sister got away. I don't know where my brother or my sister is right now though. My baby sister was too little for us to take care of, so we left her with one of our friends' families. My brother ran off to join a gang of bandits, and I didn't go with him because I didn't want a life like that. Even so, I miss both of them a lot."

"That's awful!" Sonic said. "How did you stay alive for so long like this?"

"I don't know how, but somehow I... I have a sixth sense for trouble. I don't know how else to explain it. Somehow, I can tell when the people around me are about to commit a crime, or attack someone. When I have that tingling feeling on the back of my spine, I know that a criminal's somewhere close by."

"That explains why you ran away when we were in that restaurant!" Tails said.

"That's right Tails," Carrie said back. "I don't know where I got this power, but I don't really care as long as it keeps me and other people alive. Anyway, Sonic and Tails, thank you so much for everything you've done for me. If you hadn't come, I would have been shot in the head."

"You're welcome," Sonic said. "Thank you sharing your food and supplies with us."

"It's no problem at all Sonic!" Carrie said. "It's the least I can do."

"Guys..." Tails said. "We've got a problem!"

"What's wrong?" Sonic said, turning to face Tails.

"We're running low on fuel," Tails said with a sad face. "We're going to have to set down somewhere."

"Oh great..." Sonic moaned. "Where are we supposed to find fuel for a plane in a country like this?"

"I know a place," Carrie said.

Sonic and Tails turned to look at her.

"There's an ancient city called Rotisiv nearby that has an airport. It was one of the stops on the route I was planning to take to Nedlo. Tourists visiting Tneicna like to enter the country through there, and that's why it has an airport. We can buy fuel there!"

"You saved us again, Carrie!" Sonic said. "First the food, and now our fuel!"

"Hee, well...you saved me too from those gangsters," Carrie said.

"Head for Rotisiv then, Tails!" Sonic said.

"You got it!" Tails shouted.

After getting the coordinates from Carrie, Tails turned the plane in the direction of Rotisiv, and they flew off into the distance. They'd have their fuel and be back on their way to Nedlo in no time at all.


	6. Round One, Fight!

**Chapter 6: Round One, Fight!**

**March 6th, 2314 – 12:30 PM – Baca Park, Rotisiv, Tneicna**

"Gah...why are we still here?" Sonic moaned. "We've been here for two freaking days!"

"Probably because the airport's got a lot of passenger jets full of tourists going through it, and the airport can't spare us any fuel," Carrie said, taking another bite out of her sandwich.

The three of them were sitting in Carrie's tent in Baca Park in Rotisiv, eating a lunch of sandwiches. They had decided to camp out in the park, since it was cheaper than staying at an inn.

"I want out of here!" Sonic shouted. "Jeez...why did all of these tourists have to be coming here at the same time as us?!"

"Sonic, quiet down..." Carrie said. "You don't have to yell."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Tails suddenly said.

"What is it, buddy?" Sonic said.

Tails pulled out a flyer. The words _Rotisiv Street Fighting Tournament_ were emblazoned in red across the top of the paper.

"This flyer says there's a street fighting tournament going on in Cyndica Square in the center of the city," Tails said. "It's going to start in about 20 minutes. Do you want to go watch? You don't even have to pay anything to see it."

"I've got nothing else to do right now," Sonic said. "So yeah, I'll go. Are you coming too Carrie?"

"Of course, Sonic," Carrie said with a grin. "I can't be without my bodyguard, can I?"

She laughed a little.

"Aww...will you stop calling me that?" Sonic said.

"Cyndica Square is a long way from here," Tails said, handing the flyer to Sonic. "We should go right now."

"Long way?" Sonic laughed, as he looked at the map to the tournament on the other side of the flyer. "There's no place on this planet that's a long way for me! Betcha I can get there in thirty seconds flat!"

Sonic ran straight out of the tent, blasting the entrance flaps aside with a massive gust of wind. They flapped in the breeze for a good ten seconds or so before falling back into their still positions.

"Die!" Carrie said. "I keep forgetting how fast he is!"

"Umm...die?" Tails asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh uh, heh..." Carrie said, smiling at Tails. "I don't mean 'die' literally. I just say that whenever something surprises me a lot, like Sonic's speed. It's a saying of mine."

"Oh, okay," Tails grinned. "Anyway, let's go catch up with him."

"Right," Carrie said.

The orange fox and the white wolf walked out of Baca Park, and onto the busy city streets. However, they soon came to a marketplace that was overflowing with shoppers. One could hardly fit a piece of paper in some of the gaps between the people.

"Great..." Carrie muttered, starting into the crowd. "We're gonna be late with this crowd in our way."

Tails looked around, but he couldn't see much through the people since he was so short. Even though he was just a tiny kid, he couldn't slip through the crowd all that well.

_We'll never get through this place in time. If only there were less people, or if we could go over them... Wait...over them?_

Tails grinned. He had completely forgotten about his special trick. He turned around to look at his tails.

"Carrie," Tails said.

"What is it, Tails?" Carrie said as she turned around to face him.

Tails pointed at his tails, and said, "How about it? You could hold onto my arms, and I could fly us over this crowd."

"I don't know...it sounds dangerous," Carrie said. "Are you sure you can hold me and fly at the same time?"

"Well, you trust Sonic because of his dad Swift," Tails said. "Can't you trust me, because I'm the son of Kyle Prower?"

"You do have a point there," Carrie said with a smile. "Let's do it."

The two of them walked to a more open spot in the crowd, and Tails took Carrie's arms in his hands.

"Hold on tight," Tails said. He started to spin his tails as fast as he could, the downdraft fanning the ground beneath their feet. Tails slowly rose up into the air, holding onto Carrie's arms. Carrie looked down in surprise as she saw her feet rise up off of the ground. She looked up at Tails and grinned. Tails smiled back. The people in the crowd below them looked up in surprise, gasping and pointing at them. The two were soon flying above the crowd and through the air. Tails sighted Cyndica Square in the distance, and headed towards it.

**A few minutes later, at Cyndica Square...**

As they touched down in the large open space of the square, they easily spotted the fighting ring. As big as the square itself was, the makeshift stadium took up a good portion of it. Stands for spectators to sit on rose high into the air, and most of them looked to be quite full. They walked in between two of the stands, and they could finally see the fighting ring. It was a large raised square made of stone. It was about thirty feet by thirty feet, allowing a lot of room for fighters to maneuver inside it.

There was a buzz of activity around the ring, with spectators chatting with each other, fighters grunting as they got in some last-minute practice on their moves, and with people running around trying to sell snacks and drinks.

"Hey you two!" Sonic called out from behind Tails. He and Carrie turned around. Sonic was sitting on a high row in one of the stands, waving to them. He then waved his hand over two open seats next to him. He shouted, "Hurry up before someone gets these!"

---

Carrie and Tails ran over to join Sonic, and sat down in the spots next to him.

"I didn't think you'd make it!" Sonic said. "These stupid tourists are grabbing all the seats!"

"You really don't like tourists, do you Sonic?" Carrie said. "Aren't you forgetting? We're tourists too."

"Eh, whatever," Sonic said.

"Look! The tournament is about to start!" Tails said, pointing to the ring.

Sonic and Carrie turned to face the fighting platform. A pink female rabbit wearing a red cloak was getting up into the ring, and the crowd hushed as she moved to the center of the platform. Once everyone was quiet, she began to speak.

"I would like to welcome all of you to the tenth annual Rotisiv Street Fighting Tournament!"

Cheers and clapping rose up from the crowd. The crowd quieted down moments later to allow the rabbit to talk again. She turned to the fighters waiting outside of the ring.

"Those of you who have been in the past tournaments should already know the rules. But, for those of you who are new, I'll tell them to you. We have sixteen fighters in this tournament, organized into eight pairs. Each pair of fighters will have a match. The loser of the match will be eliminated from the tournament, while the winner will go to the next round to be sorted into new pairs with the other winners. We will then go through the same process of elimination in the next round, and so on up in the other rounds, until all of the fighters have been eliminated except for our champion! The champion will receive a prize of 3,000 demens!"

The crowd cheered, before quieting down again.

"The rules during matches are simple. If you are knocked to the ground in the ring, I'll begin counting. If you can't get back up before I count to ten, you lose. Also, touching the ground outside of the ring at any time will result in an automatic loss. Furthermore, if you kill your opponent during a match, you will be disqualified from the tournament. Other than that, anything goes in these fights ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd erupted into cheers once again.

"With that out of the way, let's get our first match started! Knuckles Echidna versus Drake Scales!"

Two fighters climbed into the ring, one a small blood red echidna wearing a silly-looking cowboy hat, and the other a giant, muscular blue-green crocodile. They both quickly assumed their fighting stances and faced each other.

The pink rabbit climbed off of the platform, and turned around to face the two combatants.

She shouted, "Ready?! FIGHT!"

The two fighters slowly sidestepped in a circle around the ring, facing each other. They were sizing each other up, looking for potential weaknesses and openings to attack. However, while the echidna remained calm and collected, the crocodile appeared to be getting rather fed up with the echidna for not attacking.

Finally, Drake growled and said, "Enough of this! I'm gonna grind you and your stupid red dreadlocks into the ground!"

He charged towards him with a mighty shout, pulling back one of his arms to wind up for a strong punch. However, Knuckles calmly ducked when the crocodile thrust his fist forward, and gave him a hard punch to the gut. The crocodile's eyes bulged out with pain, the sudden attack catching him off guard. The echidna smirked, and winded up his fists before unleashing a barrage of punches on the croc's chest. His white-gloved fists moved so fast that they almost looked like white comets.

_No wonder he's called Knuckles... _Sonic thought.

The echidna concluded his attack with an uppercut to the bottom of the crocodile's jaw, sending him flying into the air and out of the ring. He crashed onto the ground beneath the platform.

"Ring out!" the rabbit cried. "Knuckles Echidna is the winner! Wow, that has to be the shortest match we've ever had in the history of this tournament! I'd watch out for that echidna if I were you! Who knows what other tricks he can pull off?"

The crowd cheered, impressed with how quickly Knuckles had defeated what looked like such a strong opponent. Knuckles, however, simply exited the ring and ignored his applause. He sat down on the fighters' bench with a frown on his face, as if he were waiting for a bus or something.

"Wow, that was fast!" Carrie said. "Knuckles took him out like he was nothing!"

"Echidnas are rare," Sonic said. "This is the first time I've seen one in person. I think I might talk to him once the tournament is over."

"How come he looks angry?" Tails asked. "He won the fight..."

"I think Tails..." Sonic said. "It's because the fight was very easy to him. Maybe he was hoping that crocodile would be stronger or something."

The next two combatants entered the ring for the second match. However, Sonic barely paid any attention to the new fighters. He focused most of his attention on this powerful echidna. It was like he felt a strange aura from him, or something. Why did he care so much about him? Maybe it was because his large amount of physical strength was something like his high running speed. It was like the two of them were linked with their above-and-beyond abilities.

_Now I really want to talk to him,_ Sonic thought.

Sonic continued to watch the tournament from his seat in the stands, as the fighters were eliminated one by one. Finally, the last match of Round One had started.

"Let's hear it for the last two fighters of this round!" the rabbit shouted as the two warriors entered the ring. "Nick Isaac versus Bachro Berall!"

Nick Isaac was a green hedgehog, and had a decorative bracelet on his arm. He also had a large, archaic sword in one hand. Even though the sword looked almost as tall as him, he wielded it as easily as if it were no bigger than a small knife. He took several practice swings while he waited for the match to begin.

Bacharo Berall was a large brown bear, and he was wearing some very durable-looking metal armor around his chest. He didn't have a weapon with him like Nick, but his massive arms and legs looked like they could do some serious damage. Not only that, he also had the added advantage of his claws. He showed them off to the audience as he fully extended them on one arm.

---

Bacharo grinned as he looked down at the green hedgehog. Nick looked tiny next to the giant bear, and Bacharo thought he could squash him like a bug before he could even use his sword. Nick didn't smile back, but a look of extreme confidence could be seen in his eyes. Both of them looked like they thought the other one didn't stand a chance.

"Ready you two?" the pink rabbit said.

Both of them nodded.

"FIGHT!" the rabbit yelled.

The bear started to walk calmly towards the green hedgehog. He was so big and heavy that his footsteps even shook the ground a little. He got a broad grin on his face as he towered over Nick. However, Nick calmly stood his ground, holding his sword out in front of him.

"I'm going to squash you like a bug, Nick!" the Bacharo declared. "But don't worry, it won't hurt...much..."

He raised one huge foot off of the ground, and aimed it at Nick. He pushed his foot down, but in a split second Nick rolled aside dodged the attack. He got back up to a stand, as Bacharo's foot slammed down to the stone. The bear raised his foot, and was surprised to see that Nick wasn't crushed beneath it. He then saw Nick standing off to the side, and got a look of surprise on his face.

"You're way too slow," Nick said. "I would have had enough time to dodge your foot three times there."

"You little maggot you!" Bacharo bellowed. "You don't insult me and get away with it!"

Bacharo swiped one massive arm towards Nick, the claws fully extended. However, Nick pushed the blade of his sword down to the ground, so that it was between him and the path of Bacharo's claws. When the claws made contact with the sharp edge, they were sliced right off his hand.

"Impossible!" Bacharo said, as he examined his claws.

Suddenly, he gasped in pain, as he felt a blade cut across the middle of his chest. He looked down, and saw that Nick had taken a slash at his armor while he was looking at his hand. The little hedgehog's sword had actually cut all the way through the armor, down to his skin. He could feel searing pain, and the blood trickling down underneath his armor.

_But...this is my own personal metal armor, and it has never failed me!_

He looked back at Nick, totally shocked by what he had just done. Nick got a shark-like grin on his face, and leaped high into the air, the sword held over his head. Bacharo covered his face with his arm, to block the blow. The blade sliced across his arm, leaving a gash that began pouring blood. Bacharo bellowed in pain.

_I can't beat him! I'm quitting now!_

"Stop the fight!" Bacharo yelled. "I give up!"

"Are you sure Bacharo?" the rabbit said.

Bacharo took one look at Nick, with that sword in his hands and that grin plastered across his face, and said, "YES! I QUIT!"

"Bacharo has given up!" the rabbit declared. "That makes Nick the winner!"

While some of the audience cheered, others booed, angry at how Bacharo had just ended the fight like that. Bacharo didn't care though. The tarnishing of his reputation as a fighter beat the hell out of getting sliced and diced by that green hedgehog. Bacharo jumped down out of the ring as fast as he could, and hurried out of the stadium, laughs and jeers following him as he ran.

_I feel very sorry for anyone who has to fight him after me, _Bacharo thought as he ran. _It was like he had a demon within him while I fought him._

Meanwhile, back at the stadium, Round Two began, and the crowd quickly hushed in anticipation for the next set of fights. There were eight fighters left in the tournament now.


	7. Seeing Red

**Chapter 7: Seeing Red**

**March 6th, 2314 – 6:30 PM – Cyndica Square, Rotisiv, Tneicna**

A few hours later, the final match had finally come. Knuckles and Nick were the two fighters in this last match. However, Sonic could see this final match coming from a mile away, because both of them had taken the tournament by storm. Since the two of them had so easily beaten everyone in their matches, the tournament had been a little boring. However, this last match would surely be interesting with how each of them had previously performed. Only one of them could emerge from this ring victorious, so who would it be?

The two fighters faced each other in the ring, and once again the pink rabbit said, "Ready?! FIGHT!"

Nick launched an attack straight at Knuckles with his sword, and swung it towards his head. Knuckles ducked to avoid the blow. The blade sliced off a few of the dreadlocks that he couldn't move out of the way in time.

_Oh well, it's not like losing some hair can hurt you,_ Sonic thought.

However, Isaac spun around after his slash and did a surprise kick. Knuckles was blown across the ring by the attack, since he was too busy dodging the sword slash to avoid the kick. He flew to the ground and scraped along the stone ring, sliding to a stop just at the edge of the platform. He picked himself and dusted himself off.

"You'll need more than one lucky hit to beat me!" Knuckles shouted.

"Luck? Heh," Nick said, a smug grin on his face. "What you call luck I call skill."

Knuckles growled, and then said, "I'll show you skill!"

He charged across the platform with a mighty shout, drawing back his arm to put more force behind the punch he was about to throw. Nick smiled, and calmly sidestepped the attack. Knuckles gasped in surprise as he punched the air where Nick was standing a second before. Nick formed his hand into the shape of a blade, and chopped it down upon Knuckles' back. Knuckles was knocked hard to the ground from the attack.

"We've seen some awesome victories from both Nick and Knuckles throughout the tournament," the pink rabbit shouted. "I know you've all been dying to see who would be the superior one, and it looks like that person is Nick! Knuckles may have dominated in his other matches, but now he's getting knocked around like a rag doll!"

"You hear that Knuckles?" Nick teased. "You're a rag doll!"

Knuckles jumped up off of the ground. He appeared unhurt, although his breathing seemed a little labored. He started to step towards Nick, but Nick stepped up towards him and ducked. The hedgehog then suddenly leaped up, thrusting his fist upward into an uppercut. Knuckles caught Nick's fist fully underneath his chin, and was sent spiraling into the air. A few seconds later, he began to come back down, and it looked like he was going to fall out of the ring. Nick smiled, apparently sure that Knuckles wouldn't fall back to the platform, and that he'd win by ring out.

However, what happened next surprised everyone. Knuckles went into a somersault in midair, and then spread his dreadlocks out. The dreadlocks caught the air like a parachute, and Knuckles was now hovering in midair. Nick's mouth gaped open and his eyes widened, surprised by this sudden thing Knuckles had done. Knuckles smirked, looking quite pleased with Nick's expression.

"What the hell just happened?!" Nick yelled.

"Indeed folks!" the rabbit said. "What kind of a move did Knuckles just use there?"

"I can use my dreadlocks to catch the wind," Knuckles said. "So I can hover and glide in midair. You can't beat me with a ring out if I can do this."

"Meh, whatever," Nick said, swinging his sword around. "I can still win just by beating the crap out of you."

"No, you won't Nick," Knuckles said, as he glided down to the ground.

"Why not?" Nick said. "You weren't a match for me before, so what makes you think you can win now?"

"I was holding back the entire time, Nick," Knuckles said. "I was getting bored of winning all my matches so quickly, so I decided to let this one drag out a little. I only let you land all those blows on me to make you think you could beat me."

"Knuckles is saying that everything before was just acting!" the pink rabbit declared. "Is he telling the truth, or is he just bluffing?"

"I'm definitely not bluffing," Knuckles said. "Anyway, I'm getting bored of just toying with you, so let's finish this now. I'll stand right here, and I won't move anywhere else until after your next attack. Give me all you've got, and show me that 'skill' of yours. I can take it. I know I can from how weak your blows were before."

"Why you!" Nick screamed. "I'll slice you to pieces for that!"

Nick hefted his sword over his head, and charged right at Knuckles. When he was about to reach Knuckles, he heaved the sword into a downward slash, aiming for the top of Knuckles' head. However, Knuckles threw one punch straight up into the air at the oncoming blade. The blade was shattered to pieces from the impact, and the metal shards rained all over the fighting ring.

"But...but...how?!" Nick said, staring at the hilt of his sword in surprise.

"Told you I wasn't bluffing," Knuckles said with a grin.

"Heh...well...I've been holding back too..." Nick said, smiling. "I didn't think I'd have to use my last resort on you."

"What?" Knuckles said.

"See this bracelet?" Nick said, holding out his arm to show it to Knuckles. "It's not just for decoration. It serves its own purpose in battles... With this next attack I'm going to use on you, I can take your body and rewrite its data into whatever I want it to be. I could make you into a spaceship, or ten million demens, or even a pile of crap for all I care."

Nick began to press buttons on the bracelet.

"REWRITE!" Nick screamed.

The crowd looked on in wonder, as strange glowing shapes appeared from the bracelet and hovered in midair. The shapes quietly floated around for a few seconds, but suddenly the shapes fired a red and orange beam at Knuckles. Knuckles swiftly sidestepped the beam, as it crashed into the stone floor of the fighting ring. Taking advantage of the break after Nick's attack, Knuckles rushed up to him and punched his bracelet. Sparks began spitting out of the strange device.

"No!" Nick screamed. "You broke it!"

The shapes and beam dissipated from the air, and a flashing warning sign appeared on Nick's bracelet. Sweat beads rolled down his eyes as he frantically pressed buttons on the device.

"My turn now!" Knuckle's screamed.

Nick's eyes widened open in fear as he turned to face Knuckles. The echidna somersaulted right in front of Nick, and unleashed the punch combo he had used before on Drake. Nick looked like he was being riddled with bullets or something with how fast Knuckles was punching him. Finally, Knuckles stopped and stepped back to admire his work. Nick fell down to his knees, and then fell flat on the ground as his knees gave way. Some blood dribbled out of his mouth onto the stone.

"One!" the rabbit started, beginning the count. "Two! Three! Four!"

"Waste of time..." Knuckles muttered, turning away from Nick and walking to the edge of the ring. The rabbit continued to do the counting. "He's not getting up again for a while."

For some strange reason, Nick's body began to fizzle and was covered with static. It almost looked like static on a TV set or something. Knuckles had no idea what was happening.

Nick reached towards his bracelet again, and mumbled, "Initiate...gate out..."

"Now what?" Knuckles said.

Nick's body flashed and it began to dissipate, almost like a fog. A gold ring went over his body, and he was gone. Just like that, he had simply vanished into thin air. There wasn't a trace left of him.

"Wait people!" The rabbit said. "Nick has vanished, and I have no idea how he did it! I'm not sure what to do in a situation like this... I think I'll just call this a ring out, since Nick has clearly left the ring! So, Knuckles wins by default!"

The crowd erupted into cheers. Some were chanting "Knuckles! Knuckles!" over and over again. The pink rabbit climbed up into the ring to join Knuckles.

"Congratulations Knuckles!" the rabbit said. She pulled out an envelope. "Here's your prize money! All 3,000 demens of it!"

Knuckles took the money, without saying anything. He had a frown on his face.

"So, how do you feel about winning Knuckles?"

"Uh...well..." Knuckles started. "I dunno, I feel good...I guess?"

"Why so glum? You're frowning!"

"I was hoping I'd find somebody stronger to fight in this tournament. That's why I'm disappointed."

"Aww...that's too bad! Try coming back next year! Maybe you'll find that someone if you do! We'd love to have him back again, right folks?"

The crowd cheered.

"Maybe I will. We'll see..." Knuckles said.

"Anyway, nice chatting with you Knuckles!" the rabbit said cheerfully. "As for the rest of you, thanks for coming out to our tournament! Have a safe journey back to your homes, and we hope to see you again next year!"

The crowd gave one final round of applause, and then everyone started filing out of the makeshift stadium. A few people climbed up into the ring to talk with Knuckles, but he seemed to be trying to get away from them.

Sonic turned to Carrie and Tails, and said, "You two go on ahead. I'll meet up with you at the tent later."

"Okay Sonic," Carrie said. "I think I'll go shopping in the marketplace while I wait for you. Want to come with me Tails?"

"Sure," Tails said.

"Bye," Sonic said.

"Bye!" Tails and Carrie said together.

While the two of them walked out of the stadium, Sonic ran towards Knuckles.

**---**

Knuckles slowly moved out of the ring, trying to get rid of the throng of people who had decided to come up to him because he won the match. They were saying all kinds of annoying things:

"Hey Knuckie! Where'd you learn them crazy moves? I wanna learn them too!"

"Can I get your autograph, Mr. Echidna?"

"I want my picture with you, Reddie!"

Knuckles didn't say anything back to them, and only focused on trying to push his way out of the crowd. Too bad not saying anything didn't deter his fans' determination. It was driving him crazy, and he was very close to using his own fighting moves on the crowd to make them go away. Couldn't they just leave him alone and let him go?

_The crowd's not the only bad thing. This fighting tournament turned out to be a bust. Jeez, it's been so long since the last time I've met somebody worthy of my fighting skills. Those 3,000 demens is a nice reward for whooping some ass though. I really need that money right now, since most of the treasure I've found around here won't get me a lot. I figured there'd be more artifacts in this country, since it's the center of ancient Freedomian culture. I guess I'll move on now. There's nothing left for me around here._

Finally, he leaped up into the air, fanned out his dreadlocks to go into a glide, and floated over the heads of the crowd. They looked up in surprise as he glided away. Knuckles smiled, glad that his idea seemed to have worked.

_I'd love to see them try to get me now..._

However, when he set down in front of the fighters' tent to get his backpack, he found a blue hedgehog waiting there for him.

"Hey Knuckles!" he cheerfully said.

"Get away from me!" Knuckles snapped at him, brushing him aside as he walked towards the tent flap.

Suddenly, the hedgehog reappeared in front of the tent flap, barring his path. It was like he had just teleported in front of Knuckles. The echidna was a little caught off guard by this little move.

"How'd you do that?" Knuckles asked, his eyes wide open in surprise.

"Do what?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"You just appeared out of thin air right in front of the tent, like magic," Knuckles said. "How did you do that?"

"My super speed," the hedgehog said with a grin. "Watch..."

The hedgehog vanished from in front of Knuckles. Suddenly, he felt somebody tapping on his back shoulder. Knuckles turned around to see who it was, and leaped back in surprise to see that it was the hedgehog again.

"Holy crap!" Knuckles said. "That's incredible! You move so fast I can't even see you move! What's your name? You look a little familiar."

"Sonic Hedgehog," Sonic said.

"I remember your last name. That was the last name of that war hero in the Robotnik War. His name was Swift Hedgehog."

"He was my dad," Sonic said.

"That explains why you can move so fast. You got it from your dad, didn't you?" Knuckles said.

"Yeah... Well, you already know about me, so can I hear about you?"

"Sure!" Knuckles said. "I'd like to tell you about me. My name is Knuckles Echidna, and I'm from the country of Tresed."

"The desert nation?"

"Yeah. There's a lot of ruins around there, and my parents are archeologists who study the ruins. I got bored living with them, so I decided to just run away."

"You ran away?" Sonic said in surprise.

"Yeah, so what? I'm not doing so badly on my own. I wander Planet Freedom as a treasure hunter now, and look for things I can sell to get money to survive. I can easily find treasure with my special sensing ability. I must have gotten that from my parents, because they were really good at finding tombs, artifacts, and stuff."

"That's pretty cool, but you ran away from your parents? I'd never run away from my dad if he were still alive."

"Oh yeah...I forgot, he died in the last battle of the war, right?"

"Uh huh... I really miss him."

"If he's been dead for six years, where have you been living then?"

"I got adopted by Kyle Prower, my dad's friend in the war."

"That guy, I remember him too. Well, what are you doing out here in Tneicna alone though? Kyle isn't dead too, is he?"

Sonic looked down at the ground. A few tears formed in his eyes.

"Oh...I'm sorry..." Knuckles said. While Knuckles had a tough guy exterior, he wasn't insensitive all the time to everyone around him. He still respected other people's feelings when they were in suffering.

"It's all right," Sonic said, wiping his eyes.

"When did he die?"

Sonic laid out the story of Kyle's and Natalie's deaths, and then told him of his journey up until this day.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

"I know."

"Hey, this may sound like a strange request, but do you wanna have a match?"

"Match?"

"I wanna fight you. You're the son of Swift Hedgehog, a legendary warrior in the Robotnik War. Some of him has definitely rubbed off onto you, and I think you'd make a worthy opponent. I entered this tournament, and hoped I could find somebody worthy of fighting, but everyone was weak compared to me. I think you're different though."

"Well...we could fight later. Me, Tails, and Carrie are stuck in this city until the airport can spare us some fuel for our plane, so I'll be free later. Not right now though, I need to meet my friends back at our tent in the park."

"Okay then," Knuckles said with a grin, "But this better not be a lame excuse to get out of fighting me."

Sonic smiled, and said, "Oh no Knuckles! You caught me red handed! I admit it! I'm really really scared of you! I know you'll kill me! Aaaaaah!"

The two of them laughed.

"Anyway, when you want your match, I'll be at my tent at Baca Park later."

"I'll remember that."

"See you later," Sonic said, waving goodbye as he walked off.

"Bye!" Knuckles said.

Knuckles turned back towards the fighter tent, pleased with his new exhibition match coming up.

_The son of Swift Hedgehog... While he's not the real thing, I can feel that he will be equal, or even better than his father in combat. I'm getting chills just thinking about fighting him. It's pure luck that I met someone like him out here. It looks like me fighting in the tournament was worthwhile after all. I think now I'll stick around Rotisiv a little longer._

He put the envelope with the 3,000 demens in his backpack. He then took his backpack, and went out to eat at a nearby restaurant. His dinner was relatively uneventful, at least until one thing happened... Somebody who wasn't watching where he was walking accidentally smacked into his table and fell over.

"Are you okay?" Knuckles said to the fallen guy.

"Yes...I'm fine..." He said as he climbed to his feet, and rubbed his head to soothe the pain. "Sorry about that. I should watch where I'm going."

"It's okay," Knuckles said. "I'm feeling too good right now to be mad at you."

"Well, see you later then," the cat said.

"Bye..." Knuckles said.

Knuckles finally finished eating, and a waitress handed him his bill. Knuckles reached down for his backpack where he had put his prize money...and it wasn't there.

"What the...?" Knuckles whispered.

He looked all around the bottom of the table, but his backpack was nowhere to be found.

_Where is it?! It was here when I sat down to eat... _

Knuckles thought very hard about what had happened while he was sitting here in the restaurant.

_I came in, sat down, put my backpack down, ordered my food, got the food, started eating, then that guy bumped into the table and...WAIT! Maybe he deliberately ran into the table so that he could swipe my backpack! I was too busy asking him if he needed help to see him stealing it! Damn it! I'm so stupid! I am gonna give him one hell of a beating once I hunt him down! _

Knuckles stood up from his table, and prepared to fire up his hot-cold treasure finding ability. Basically to use it, he concentrated hard on an item he needed to find, and he could detect that object's aura if he was close enough to it. The feeling of the aura got stronger the closer he got to it, and he could use this feeling to find the item he was after. He concentrated on his backpack, and sensed the feeling of the aura getting weaker. It was being carried off somewhere... Knuckles took off after the signal, hoping he'd find his bag and the punk who had it with him.


	8. Exhibition Match

**Chapter 8: Exhibition Match**

**March 6th, 2314 – 7:00 PM – Baca Park, Rotisiv, Tneicna**

Sonic ran back across town and finally arrived at the tent in Baca Park. Carrie and Tails hadn't come back yet, so he decided he'd take a few exercise runs around the park while he waited for them. After about 30 minutes of running, he finally saw Carrie and Tails appear near the tent. He ran right over to them and screeched to a halt, tearing up grass from the ground in two streaks.

"Hey guys! You finally made it back!" Sonic said. "I almost thought you got mugged!"

"It's funny you should mention that Sonic," Carrie said, a worried tone in her voice. "I think I sensed the assassins again in this city. The feeling was weak before though, and right now I can't feel them."

"Do you think they left the city, since the signal is gone?" Tails asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Carrie said. "Since there's a lot more criminals in big cities, it's harder to pinpoint the suits that are chasing me. They might not even be the killers at all for all I know."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Sonic said. "We could have set up camp outside the city then."

"We did turn them over to the soldiers in Erople, so I didn't think we'd have to worry about them anymore."

"I think we should get out of here anyway. You never know. Have you heard anything from the airport about getting our fuel for our plane?"

"The airport people called us on her cell phone," Tails said. "And they told us that there would be fuel ready for the Tornado tomorrow."

"That's good," Sonic nodded. "Right now, I think we should move our camp out of town."

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" a voice screamed.

Sonic, Tails, and Carrie turned to face the owner of the voice. It was Knuckles.

"Knuckles!" Sonic said, surprised by his sudden appearance. "So...uh...did you come here for that match?"

"You shut up about that stupid match!" Knuckles said. "I know what you're really after! You want my backpack with all of my prize money in it!"

"What?" Sonic said, widening his eyes in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Quit playing dumb!" Knuckles bellowed. "I can sense my backpack inside your tent! I'll prove it to you right now that you have it!"

With those words, Knuckles stormed into the tent. A few seconds later, he gave a triumphant cry of success, and climbed out of the tent with a brown backpack in hand. He opened it up, and inside was the envelope holding the prize money.

"Told you that you had my backpack, you little liar!"

"But...Knuckles," Sonic started. "I don't have any idea how it got in there."

"You know perfectly well how it got in there!" Knuckles shouted. "You had a friend steal it for you while I was eating, because you knew I'd recognize you if you did it yourself! It's lucky somebody told me where your buddy was running to when I left the restaurant!"

"...Friend?" Sonic asked. "What did this 'friend' look like? And what about that guy who told you to come here?"

However, Knuckles seemed to be so enraged that he completely ignored the questions.

"You robbed me, and now you gotta pay!" Knuckles said, as he put the backpack down and assumed a fighting stance.

"Can't you just go?" Carrie interjected. "I mean you did get your bag back, so there's no need to fight."

"No way!" Knuckles bellowed. "When you rob me, you don't get off that easy! The only way to settle this is with a fight!"

"Knuckles, please tell me what the guys you saw looked like," Sonic said.

"Enough talking!" Knuckles shouted, before he charged straight at Sonic.

_Great..._ Sonic thought, watching his oncoming attacker. _Knuckles wants to do things the hard way. I got no choice but to fight if I wanna find out who set him up to come here. _

Knuckles threw one punch lightning quick at Sonic's face. Sonic was able to just barely able to sidestep the punch. If he had been a quarter second slower, he would have been hit. Knuckles stumbled as he tried to stop, the inertia of his failed attack still carrying him forward. Finally, he screeched to a halt, tearing up streaks of the neatly trimmed grass.

_I'll try my rolling attack. That'll knock him out fast._

Sonic peeled out with his feet where he was standing, and rushed straight at Knuckles. He curled into a roll, and was flying towards Knuckles like a boulder. However, just as he was about to reach Knuckles, the echidna hit him with a punch. Sonic cried out in pain. Not only did the attack really hurt, it also deflected him into a nearby tree trunk. Sonic smacked into the tree at full speed, tearing a gash in the wood and causing the tree to collapse. Sonic rolled to a stop, nursing his head to get rid of the pain.

_Whoa...he's strong! That's the first time anyone's been able to deflect my rolling attack! No wonder he won the tournament so easily!_

He clumsily started to climb to his feet, and looked in Knuckles general direction. However, the fallen tree was blocking his view of the echidna. He then looked up, and saw that Knuckles was gliding straight towards him. Sonic struggled to get up faster, but Knuckles was too close. Knuckles cleanly socked Sonic in the face with his fist as he flew by. The hedgehog was sent spinning through the air, before slamming down onto the grass again.

"Is that it?" Knuckles said, an angry tone in his voice. "I was hoping for a lot more from you! Come on! I know you can do better than that!"

"I've only started!" Sonic said. "You just caught me by surprise. You're the first person to block that attack. I'm not done yet!"

"You better not be bluffing!" Knuckles said. "I'm far from finished too!"

_I guess I'll try that teleportation trick I showed him at the fighter's tent._

He started running straight for Knuckles, and curled into a ball, just like his last attack.

"Idiot," he heard Knuckles say.

Sonic smirked as he rolled along the ground.

_You think I'm going to try the same attack again. You think wrong._

Sonic suddenly put on a burst of speed as he rolled, and then went out of the roll and leaped over Knuckles. He hit the ground behind Knuckles' back. However, he had done all of this so fast that Knuckles hadn't seen it happening. It was like he had just teleported.

"Where'd you go?" Knuckles said.

"Idiot," Sonic said, playfully imitating Knuckles' voice.

Before Knuckles could turn around to face Sonic, he got a hard kick in the back of the head. Since Sonic was such a fast runner, his legs were extremely strong. That made his kick a very damaging attack. Knuckles was sent reeling from the impact. While Sonic's kick would have probably knocked most people unconscious with one hit, it wasn't so for Knuckles. He regained his composure quite quickly.

"Heh...you can't remember the trick I showed you before, back at the fighter's tent," Sonic said, smirking.

Knuckles nursed the blow on the back of his head, and turned to face Sonic, anger in his eyes.

"I'll beat that smile off your face, you damn hedgehog!" Knuckles screamed.

He charged towards Knuckles for his next attack.

---

Carrie and Tails watched the fight from the sidelines.

"Should we try to stop them?" Carrie said.

"No," Tails said. "It's too dangerous. They look like they could really hurt you if they're fighting like that. Sonic looks like he's handling Knuckles okay anyway."

"I guess you're right," Carrie said. "But I don't like just sitting here. We know that we didn't steal his bag, so this fight is pointless. Boys will look for any reason to fight..."

"Speaking of the bag," Tails said. "Why would somebody put it in our tent? Oh yeah, and how come they left the prize money in the bag too?"

"No idea Tails," Carrie said with a sigh. "It doesn't make much sense, does it?"

Tails sat down on the grass to watch the fight, since he was tired of standing up. He looked down at the ground at his feet, watching as a light breeze made the blades of grass sway. They also carried the distant scents of foods being prepared for dinner in restaurants, and the faraway calls of the local denizens. Tails wasn't too worried about Sonic right now. If Sonic could take two guys with guns, he could surely handle one crazy echidna.

_Wait...the two guys with guns..._

He suddenly leaped to his feet, and said, "Carrie, I thought of something."

"What is it Tails?" Carrie asked.

"Maybe the people who are after you set this up," Tails said. "You did feel them running around in the city, right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Carrie said. Suddenly, she gasped and said, "I can feel them getting closer right now, as a matter of fact."

"Really?" Tails said. "Where are they?"

"I don't know. Knuckles' violent emotions are interfering with their signal."

Tails looked all around the park, and saw a few people walking around. None of them looked like the people Sonic had knocked out in Erople.

"I guess they really did get away from the soldiers before," Carrie said. "We should have taken them to the authorities ourselves."

Carrie closed her eyes, apparently trying hard to concentrate on the killers' signal. Suddenly, she cocked her head to the left. Tails turned his head to see what Carrie was looking at. He saw a black SUV parked on a dirt road that went through the park. Two figures were visible standing next to the truck, and one of them was holding a long, slender object...

"It's them!" Carrie gasped. "We have to go!"

"GET DOWN!" Tails screamed, tackling Carrie from behind as she started to run.

As Carrie fell face first to the ground, catching a mouthful of grass and dirt, a loud gunshot rang out. Tails could actually hear the whistle of the high caliber rifle round as it flew past. The bullet soared through the space that Carrie's head had occupied a second earlier.

"Was that a gunshot?" Knuckles said.

Tails got up off of the ground, and looked to see that Sonic and Knuckles were facing the two assassins next to their car.

"Did I get her?" he heard one of the assassins call out.

"Bloody hell!" the other one said. "You missed and now they know we're here! Let's get out of here!"

"You're not going anywhere!" Sonic said.

He ran straight towards the assassins and their car, going so fast that he left a trail of fire on the grass. He curled up into a ball as he got close to them, and plowed right through their truck. The black SUV was split into two halves from the impact, and the pieces fell over onto the ground with a mighty crash. Sonic quickly screeched to a halt after going right through the car. He stuck out his tongue at them, and pulled down one eyelid, mocking them.

---

"Damn that hedgehog!" John said. "Shoot him Wallace!"

"Right mate!" Wallace said, raising the sniper rifle to his shoulder.

"I recognize you two!" a loud voice said behind them.

John and Wallace turned around. Standing behind them was Knuckles, the echidna they had tricked into attacking Carrie's new little bodyguards.

"You're the one that stole my bag!" Knuckle said, pointing at Wallace. He then jerked his finger at John. "And you're the one who told me to look for it here!"

"Uhh...umm...we-"Wallace started.

"SHUT UP!" Knuckles said, causing both of them to jump back in fear.

Wallace started to aim the rifle at Knuckles. However, Knuckles saw what he was doing, and leaped right at Wallace. Even though the tiger was twice as tall as the echidna, he was scared to death of him. Wallace gasped in fright and fell down backwards, dropping his sniper rifle. Knuckles picked up the gun, and calmly bent the metal barrel with only his bare hands. He did it almost as easily as if it was made of soft clay.

"Cripes!" John screamed. "He bent your rifle like it was nothing!"

"If I can do that to metal..." Knuckles said with an evil grin. "Just think of what I can do to your neck..."

Wallace scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, and took off running across the park grass. He heard John gasping as he ran to catch up with him. Suddenly, a fist as hard as a cannonball slammed into Wallace from the back, and he was sent flying, the extra momentum from his running pushing him into the air. He crashed to the ground hard, and the wind was knocked out of him. He also heard a thump to his left, and painfully turned his head to see what it was. The blue hedgehog had taken down John, like the red echidna had taken down Wallace. Suddenly, a strong hand flipped him onto his back, and pulled him up by his shirt collar. He was looking at Knuckles.

"Tell me now!" the echidna yelled in his face. "Why did you steal my bag and put it in their tent?!"

"W-w-we..." Wallace started. "We wanted to get you to fight that blue hedgehog and his mutant fox friend."

"Don't you dare call him a mutant!" he heard Carrie say. Carrie walked up to him and slapped him across the face.

_Un...believable... We're supposed to be killing her, and instead she's slapping us in the face while this echidna is about to kill us._

"Why'd you need Knuckles to fight?" the blue hedgehog said, walking over to Wallace while dragging John behind him. Fortunately though, the kid didn't do anything to hurt him like the other two.

"You're really tough, that's why..." Wallace mumbled. "You beat us half to death the last time we met, so we had to try to get to you another way. We saw Knuckles in the tournament, so we got the idea to put him to use. After Knuckles here took you and the fox out, we planned to kill Carrie."

"You bastards you..." Knuckles said. "You were using me to help kill an innocent girl!"

"How'd you get away from the soldiers before?" the fox asked, his creepy two tails absent-mindedly swinging back and forth behind him.

"We, uh...shot them..." John stammered, sitting a few feet away from Wallace. "Heh heh...we weren't as knocked out as you thought... And we had more guns than just the revolvers..."

"You sicko!" Carrie said, slapping John in the face this time. "How can you think that's funny?"

"How did you find us again?" Sonic said.

Wallace remained silent. He didn't want them to take away what they used to find her. That device was really expensive, and his boss would have his head if it wound up missing.

"Tell Sonic or I'll hit you!" Knuckles said, drawing his fist back.

"We tracked her cell phone signal!" Wallace said quickly. "The radar is in the car! Just don't hurt me!"

"Tails, go get it," Sonic said.

The fox ran to the destroyed truck. Wallace heard the noise of him poking around in their gear, and finally he returned with the radar. It was a small metal rectangle, about a foot long and a half wide. There was a radar screen on one side, and a small satellite dish stuck out of one end of the box.

"I think this is it," Tails said. "My mom showed me some machines like this before."

"Let me see that thing," Knuckles said. He took the radar and held it up in front of Wallace and John. Knuckles got a devilish grin on his face. He then crushed the radar into a ball between his two hands. After scrunching up the metal ball some more, he opened his hands, to allow the pieces of the radar to clatter to the ground.

"Looks like you won't be chasing her anymore!" he said, as he stood up.

Wallace almost felt like crying with how humiliating this was. Four little kids had defeated them, their car had been destroyed, and they no longer had their tracking device that allowed them to follow Carrie's movements. What made it all the more insulting was the fact that the person they had to kill was mere yards away, and they couldn't do anything to get to her with Red and Blue standing here.

Knuckles then out of nowhere punched Wallace on the side of his face. The punch knocked him from his sitting position down to the ground. He could feel a massive bruise welling up from where Knuckles had hit him. Wallace fearfully stared up at Knuckles, afraid he might punch him again.

_Damn! Who knew a kid like him could be so strong!_

"If you do try to chase her again," Knuckles said while holding up a fist to his face. "I'll plant this in your face again!"

"Alright! Alright!" Wallace said out of fear. "Just don't hit me again!"

All of a sudden, all of them could hear bells ringing, and whistles being blown in the distance. That would probably be the local law enforcement stationed in this city. All of a sudden, about a dozen soldiers came running up the gravel path they were next to, and came to a halt as they approached. Wallace never thought he'd be happy to see law enforcement in his whole career as a hit man.

One of the soldiers stepped forward and said, "We got a report of a fight in this park! Are you the ones responsible for it?"

"Yes, we started it!" Wallace said, quickly stepping forward. He wanted to get away from Knuckles as fast as possible. "Take us in please!"

"I helped him too!" John said beside him. It looked like he wanted to get away from the kids too. "Please take us back to your station! We caused all of this!"

"You two criminals sure are eager to get thrown in jail, aren't you?" the soldier asked. "Very unusual... All right men, arrest them and take them away."

As the soldiers put cuffs on their hands, the leader turned to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Carrie. "As for you four, come with us back to the station. We need to question you too."

The kids, the soldiers, and the assassins walked out of the park, back to the guard station. As Wallace walked out of the park, he saw Knuckles slamming one of his fists into an open palm. He had that same grin on his face as before. Wallace quickly turned away, afraid that Knuckles might attack him again. They finally arrived at the local jail. Wallace was surprised that he actually felt good about arriving here.

_Finally, I'll be safe in here from that wild echidna. After this botched mission, it's the safest place I could ever be._


	9. Things Aren't What They Seem

**Chapter 9: Things Aren't What They Seem**

**March 6th, 2314 – 10:30 PM – Nosir Jail House, Rotisiv, Tneicna**

"Well, you kids, I think we're done with you," a kangaroo dressed in a soldier uniform said. "You can leave now."

At the opposite side of the table he was sitting at were Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Carrie. They were sitting inside an interrogation room at the jail, and had been there for the last three hours just answering question after question about what had happened tonight.

"Ah...finally..." Carrie said with a sigh of relief.

Sonic had to agree with her. He absolutely hated having to stay in one place for too long. He had to keep moving around no matter what, and being stuck in one place for just a few minutes could drive him crazy. Three hours though... It had taken everything Sonic had to not scream and run right out of there. Tails and Knuckles seemed quite relieved at getting to leave the jail as well.

"Those British boys in the other room confessed a while ago to trying to kill this lovely wolf here," the kangaroo soldier said, looking towards Carrie. "You wouldn't believe how eager they are to tell us every crime they've been committing over the past couple days in Tneicna. The list they had for me is huge... I felt like a priest in a confessional booth in there. They've murdered several people, they've robbed many stores for supplies, they're carrying around lots of firearms without proper licenses, and the list just goes on and on..."

Sonic saw Knuckles smirk. Sonic couldn't help but grin a little too.

The kangaroo noticed their grins and said, "I've never seen anything like this in all the time I've been on the job. Two little kids took down two heavily armed men like it was nothing. And they're so afraid of you that they're telling us everything, even stuff they would have gotten away with otherwise. Because of Sonic and Knuckles here, we've solved quite a few other crimes we had no suspects for. Every soldier in Tneicna gives you their thanks."

"You're welcome," Sonic said.

"Can you answer me a few more questions though?" Carrie asked.

"Sure, ask," the kangaroo said.

"Did they tell you why they're trying to kill me, and who they're working for?"

"All we could get out of them is that their boss paid them to kill you, but they weren't told why you needed to die."

"Oh, I see... Well, I'm afraid that's nothing I don't already know."

"As for their boss's identity, they said his name was Blackie Sten."

"Really?" Carrie said, a smile spreading across her face. "Thanks for telling me that."

The kangaroo paused for a moment, and then he let out a big yawn. He stretched his arms out as he did it.

"Anyway, I think you four should go onto bed. It's starting to get late. I'm about to leave myself, cause my shift is about over. Come on, I'll lead you to the door."

The kangaroo took them out of the interrogation room, led them down some halls, and up into the front lobby. After the four of them were outside the door, the kangaroo said "Goodnight, all of you. Get some rest."

And with that, the door of the jail was slammed closed. There was the sound of a deadbolt dropping into place. Carrie couldn't wait to start talking as soon as they were alone.

"This is great!" Carrie said. "I finally know the name of the person who wants to kill me! Blackie Sten! I don't have any idea who that is, but at least it's a start to finding out why I've been marked for death for so long."

"Yeah, it sure is, Carrie!" Sonic said.

"It's amazing how just knowing that name makes this one of the best nights of my life! I might be able to put a stop to the assassins for good now!"

"Ahem..." Sonic heard someone say. He turned to look to see that it was Knuckles who said that.

"Speaking about those assassins, I'm sorry that I let them trick me into fighting you. I'm also sorry about just attacking blindly like that, without listening to what you had to say first. I hope you can forgive me."

"I can forgive you Knuckles," Carrie said. "Because of you, those assassins are behind bars, I finally know who wants to kill me, and I'm safe again! I am the one who should be saying thanks to you!"

"Well, you're welcome," Knuckles said with a grin.

"Hey Knuckles, what are you going to do now?" Sonic said, suddenly interrupting.

"Well, I was going to stay in Rotisiv for the night. Tomorrow morning though, I'm getting out of here."

"Want to spend the night with us tonight in the park?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah," Knuckles said. "I don't want to leave you tonight. You're the first person who's been able to match me in a fight in a long time, Sonic. Because you were able to do that, I am very interested in you. I need to talk to you more, find out how you got to be so strong. Maybe one day in the future we can have a rematch, without getting interrupted like tonight."

"Heh, you really want to fight me, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'd also like to make up for me being so rash tonight."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think you'll all rather like what I'm going to give you..."

**Six hours later...**

Wallace and John were lying on planks of wood that served as their beds in their jail cell. John seemed to be sleeping okay, which was a surprise, but Wallace wouldn't have been able to sleep even if he was on the most comfortable bed in the world right now. They heard the heavy iron door closing at the end of the hall, followed by the footsteps of at least several guards. The guards finally emerged in view of the metal bars in front of their cell. They all stopped in front of the cell door.

_It's the middle of the night. Why did these guards come to our cell?_

"All right, you two," one of them said. "You're very dangerous criminals, judging from that big record you've built up in Tneicna recently. So, the higher ups have said that you need to be moved to a more secure location. Your transport is waiting right outside. Let's go."

One guard unlocked the jail cell, while more guards stepped in to put handcuffs around their arms and legs. Once they had been securely locked up, they started walking out of the jail. Wallace and John didn't argue or even talk, and simply cooperated with them.

A few moments later, they were riding in the cage on the back of a large motorized cart. Most native Tneicnan vehicles had to be either pulled by a team of Freedomians, or they had to run on a primitive steam engine. The cart was equipped with the latter. Two guards from the troop that had escorted them out of the jail were sitting up front, one driving the cart and the other riding shotgun. After about an hour or so, the cart arrived at what looked like an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the woods. Parts of the roof were caving in, and holes were in the rough stonewalls of the building.

"This doesn't look like much of a prison..." Wallace said to the driver. "Are you sure you took us to the right place?"

"Oh, don't worry, it's definitely the right place," the soldier sitting next to the driver said, turning to face him. He got a smug grin on his face.

They stopped next to the building. As they stopped, several people appeared from the building. They were dressed in black suits like Wallace and John, and they were armed with submachine guns. Trailing behind them was a somewhat shorter lion dressed in a dark blue suit. He had a walking stick with a golden handle. The other suits moved aside so he could walk to the front.

_That's Dualian! This is a surprise, because he rarely leaves his cushy mansion back up in Cictra. This must really be important to him if he left his home._

The two guards let Wallace and John out of the cage, and removed their handcuffs. Dualian stepped up to them, an angry scowl on his face. Nothing good ever happened once he had that look on his face. He turned to the two guards and their steam-driven cart.

"You two may go," he said in his thick British accent. He pulled two envelopes out of a pocket inside his jacket, and held them out to the guards. "Here's the rest of your payment."

"Thank you sir," one of them said, taking the envelopes. "A pleasure doing business with you."

They got in the cart and drove off, leaving Wallace and John alone with the men in the suits.

"I went to a lot of trouble bribing officials to get you out," Dualian said, turning back to Wallace and John. "So, you had better have some worthwhile information for me."

"We do, we do, don't worry," Wallace said as coolly as he could. Inside his head though, he was frantic. Dualian would kill them in an instant if he got the urge to do it. "Carrie Strafer's trail is still hot."

"Really?" Dualian said back, a doubtful tone in his voice. "Where is she now?"

"Well, she should be in Baca Park right now!" John quickly said. "That's where her tent is set up! It's early in the morning, so she should still be asleep!"

"Thank you, my boys," Dualian said. "If we find her, you've made my trip out here worth it. If you're wrong though, you're dead. Roger!"

Roger, a black panther, stepped forward and said, "Yes sir?"

"Take a car and some men to Baca Park in the city," Dualian said to him. "If you find Miss Strafer, kill her and report it to me on the radio. Bring me the body as evidence. You'll never have to work again if you can complete this task for me."

"Right away," Roger said. He turned to the other men in suits. "You heard him boys, let's go!"

Roger and three other suits ran around behind the building. A minute later, they could hear the rumble of a car engine starting. A black SUV drove around from behind the warehouse. It looked just like the one that Wallace and John had before they got locked up. The car zoomed down the road back to Rotisiv.

Wallace, John, Dualian, and everyone else who stayed behind at the warehouse waited in silence for Roger's report for the next hour or so. There was a thick tension in the air, and it was especially prevalent around Wallace. In fact, the tension around Wallace was so thick you could probably cut it with a knife. He had good reason to be tense, because the report that came out of that radio would have a very big effect on the rest of his life. The same went for John as well.

Their boss had a really low tolerance for failure, especially when it came to hunting Carrie Strafer. Sure he offered more money than anyone could imagine for killing her, but there were dire consequences if you took him up on the offer and failed. And so far, everyone who had tried to kill Carrie hadn't been able to do it. Everyone who failed was not heard from again after that. However, it had sounded like an easy job at the time when Wallace and John had taken it. After all, the only thing they had to do was kill a ditzy wolf girl who hadn't even left her teens yet. That hedgehog and echidna had really complicated things though, and that had led to their failure.

When Wallace and John had confessed all those crimes at the jail, it wasn't entirely because they were so terrified of those kids. It was also because of their boss. They had just hoped that admitting to all those crimes would be enough to get them locked up in the sturdiest prison ever created. Instead, they had been put up in a crappy little stone building was guarded by nothing but several soldiers armed with swords, spears, and shields. That protected them from their organization about as well as a wall made of glass would protect them from thrown bricks.

The reason their organization was able to locate them so quickly was because of a drastic measure the boss took with those who chased Carrie. When Wallace and John had begun the operation, they had been implanted with tracking devices. This allowed their boss to monitor their progress. When he had noticed that their coordinates matched that of a Tneicnan jail cell, he had come running as quickly as possible to get them out. It wasn't for their sakes though. Their boss had only gotten them out of prison quickly to cover his own arse. He didn't want too much information about his gang being given away in interrogations.

The radio in Dualian's hand started spitting out static. Everyone leaned forward towards the radio, straining to hear the message.

"Dualian! Dualian!" they heard Roger's voice say.

"Go ahead Roger," Dualian said, his voice rising in tone from excitement. "We're listening..."

"That Strafer bird isn't here!" he said.

Wallace could practically feel the color leaving his face. A look of shock crossed Dualian's face as well, but it was quickly replaced with boiling rage. His eyes were starting to redden.

"What?!" Dualian screamed.

"There's nobody in the park except for us! We don't even see a tent anywhere! Wallace and John were wrong!"

Dualian looked up from the radio, and gave Wallace and John the coldest stare either of them had ever seen. Wallace felt like he was staring into the face of Death himself, only he was in the guise of his boss.

"Tell me, exactly how did you find out that Carrie had her tent in the park?" he said.

"We tracked her cell phone signal to Rotisiv," Wallace said. "Then we spotted her tent in the park when we got here. We've seen it before."

"What stopped you from killing her then?" Dualian asked.

"She had a friend with her," John said. "A blue hedgehog named Sonic Hedgehog. A fox named Miles Prower was with them too. Sonic defeated both of us before, like we said in our last report, so we tricked an echidna called Knuckles into fighting Sonic. That plan didn't work though. Knuckles found out about our plan, and so he teamed up with Sonic and defeated us again. We got turned into the cops after that."

"Wait, Sonic Hedgehog and Miles Prower?" Dualian asked, the coldness leaving his face. "The sons of Swift Hedgehog and Kyle Prower? The ones that were mentioned as missing on the news when Kyle was killed?"

"Yes, that's right," said Wallace. He was wondering why his boss didn't seem as angry as before.

Dualian's face warmed into a smile, and he said, "Fascinating...well, thank you for that information."

"You're welcome..." John said, his voice sounding a little more relaxed than before.

Wallace felt himself relaxing too. His boss seemed to be cheering up, so maybe that meant he'd let them live.

"However, I must still impart the penalty for failure," Dualian said, pulling a large, golden magnum pistol out of his coat and pointing it at Wallace and John.

Dualian didn't even wait for Wallace or John to respond in any way before he fired. He blasted John in the head with his first shot, sending him toppling to the ground with a bloody hole in his head. Wallace started to turn to face his falling friend. Before he could turn his head to look down at the body, Dualian fired a second shot. The bullet carved into Wallace's head so quickly he didn't even have time to register the pain. Blackness simply overtook Wallace's vision after the boom of the gunshot, and that was all.

---

As Wallace's body crumpled to the ground, Dualian calmly placed the golden gun back in its holster underneath his suit jacket.

_These two may have failed me, but at least they have left me a trail to follow. I'll remember to try to get in touch somehow with Sonic Hedgehog and Miles Prower. Not now though, I need to get back to my hometown and deal with Blackie Sten. He'll kill our whole business with the way he handles things up there. One thing still bothers me though. Wallace and John were both so sure of Carrie being in the park. _

_If she's not there, then where is she? Where did she go?_


	10. The Path Ahead

**Chapter 10: The Path Ahead**

**March 7th, 2314 – 7:00 AM – Retler Hotel, Rotisiv, Tneicna**

Tails rested in his nice warm bed in the hotel room Knuckles had rented out for them. This was the gift he had given them to make up for the fight last night. After sleeping on the ground for the past few days, it was like heaven on Planet Freedom. He heard Sonic give a heavy sigh, before he pushed the covers aside and jumped out of his bed. Tails then heard his footsteps moving over to his bedside. Sonic lightly shook the fox, trying to wake him up.

"Tails, come on, it's morning. Time to get up."

"Lemme sleep some more...Sonic..." Tails murmured, rolling on his side so that he was facing away from Sonic.

Sonic did move away for a moment, but then Tails heard a loud rustling as Sonic moved aside the drapes from the window with one movement. Since the room's window was on the east side of the building, the sunlight poured into the room like a tidal wave. Tails scrunched his eyelids together really hard. He pulled the covers over his head and curled up into a ball, trying to block out as much light as possible. Sonic chuckled a little.

"Alright, I'll get up..." Tails muttered, slipping out of his bed.

He stretched his arms out wide, and gave a big yawn.

"Hey Sonic," Tails said, rubbing one eye.

"What is it, Tails?" Sonic said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"What are we going to do after we get Carrie to Nedlo?"

"Well, I guess we should go looking for our own home. We're going to need one after what happened in Forest Town."

At the mention of Forest Town, the memories of what had happened there only four days ago came flooding back in full force.

"Mommy...daddy..." Tails said, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He closed his eyes, as the tears began to patter on the floor. "What are we going to do Sonic? What are we going to do?"

"I don't know Tails," Sonic said.

The two of them had been so busy protecting Carrie from the assassins that they had temporarily forgotten about what had even brought them into this situation. Now though, here the memory was back in full force. Tails cried a little longer.

"I still can't believe they're dead..." Tails said.

"You've got to be strong, Tails," Sonic said. "Without your mom and dad, our lives will be tough. Once we've dropped off Carrie, it will be time for us to go find our own path."

While Tails looked at Sonic with eyes wide open and frightened of what was to come, Sonic gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry Tails, I know you can get through this. And if you can't, I'll be there to help you. I promise. We are brothers, aren't we? Or adopted ones, at least."

Tails sniffed a little more.

_Just being around Sonic back at our old house made me feel better, a lot of the time. He made me feel like I could do anything. He helped me when I got stuck on my English homework. He got me to finish building that kit remote control car when I was about to give up on it. He didn't give up on helping me to fly, even if he did make me really tired doing it. He has been a great big brother for me._

Tails rubbed the tears from his eyes, and smiled.

"Yeah, we're brothers. I trust you, Sonic."

Tails gave Sonic a hug, and smiled as Sonic rustled his hand through the fur on top of his head. He knew that everything was going to be all right with his big brother around.

**About 30 minutes later, at Rotisiv International Airport...**

"Well, I guess this is goodbye to you three," Knuckles said. "I hope we meet again some day."

Sonic, Tails, and Carrie were in the Tornado, and Knuckles was standing on the ground next to them. A cool breeze blew through the hangar they were standing in, the sound of the wind whistling past their ears giving the place a calming mood.

"Yeah, me too Knuckles," Sonic said from his perch on top of the Tornado's upper wing. "Thanks a lot for giving us those two hotel rooms to make up for last night."

"You're welcome."

"Hey...are you still wanting that match? We could do it right now before we go..."

Sonic moved to jump off the plane, but Knuckles raised a hand up and said, "No, it's okay. I want to get out of this country as soon as possible right now. With how tough you were in the fight in the park, both of us would probably be out for days once the fight is over. I don't want to get delayed that long."

"Alright then Knuckles," Sonic said. "But how will you find me again for a rematch?"

"Remember my treasure sensing ability?" Knuckles said. "All I gotta do is think about your plane here, and I'll know where it is. When I find the plane, you probably won't be too far away from it, I bet."

"Really? That's good. In that case, I hope you come visit us again soon Knuckles!"

"I will when I decide to take a break again," Knuckles said, as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Don't worry, because I will be back for you."

"All right then, see you!" Sonic said.

"See you Knuckles!" Carrie said, waving from the other end of the Tornado's wing.

"Bye!" Tails said, with a bright smile on his face.

The fox reached down and started the engine of the Tornado. The ignition coughed, the blades began to spin, and the hangar was filled with the dull roar of the engine. As Tails steered the biplane out of the hangar, Sonic and Carrie turned back to wave. Knuckles waved back, and ran over to the hangar door to watch the plane take off. As it left the ground, Knuckles saw Carrie throw a small object from the aircraft. That would probably be her cell phone, since the thugs said they had machines to track the signals of her phone.

_I've got a feeling that this encounter's going to have a quite an effect on the rest of my life. I wonder how though? Oh well, I've got other things to think about right now, like what country I should go to next... Hmm... Cictra? Maybe I'll go there later, because it's still freezing cold up there this time of year. Elona? Hah, good luck finding any treasure in that place. There's nothing but farms in that country. Naeco? That sounds interesting... My parents talked a lot about an old civilization that was once there. It revolved around the sea. I think I'll go there. I could probably find some artifacts if I bought an air tank with my prize money and went diving... All right then, it's settled. I'm headed for Naeco! _

A grin crossed Knuckles' lips. He exited the hangar, tilting his cowboy hat down to shield his eyes from the sun's harsh rays. He took off running at a sprint, eager to begin the new journey before him.

**3:00 pm that afternoon, in Nedlo, Tneicna...**

"Here it is, my new home!" Carrie said excitedly.

Sonic, Tails, and Carrie were standing in front of an inn in bustling downtown Nedlo. It was a three-story building made of stone, colored a faded rosy red. "Brenbar Inn" was written across a wooden sign that was hanging over the entryway. It squeaked loudly as it swayed in the breeze. Aging clay pots in the windows held flowers of a variety of colors. The whole building seemed to have the feeling of antiquity, as if it had been standing there many years. However, the brightly colored flowers and the red exterior walls did make the edifice still feel vibrant with energy.

Carrie turned back to Sonic and Tails, a smile beaming on her face. "Thank you so much for all of your help! Were it not for you, I might not have even survived long enough to make it here! How can I ever repay you for all you've done?"

"It's no problem," Sonic said, a small grin on his face. "If it weren't for you, we would have run out of fuel and would have had to abandon the Tornado. We should be thanking you too."

"You're welcome. I guess we're even then, huh?"

"Yeah," Sonic said. "But...I don't get it. You're living in a hotel?"

"Yeah, that's right. I'll be living here. This is where my job is too, so no need for commuting. I became friends with the owner of this hotel because I saved his life once. He was about to get attacked by thieves while he was visiting my old town of Nerilo in Tresed, but I sensed the criminals and alerted some nearby policemen before they could rob him. He's giving me a room in his hotel and the job as payback."

"Oh, I see now," Sonic said, nodding his head. "Well, good luck with your new job, and I hope you're able to stop whoever's trying to kill you."

"I will need that luck trying to find that Blackie Sten guy, that's for sure," Carrie said back, a bit of a worried tone in her voice. "Just knowing the name is the first stepping stone. He could be anywhere on this planet. It could be a long time before I finally stop him."

"Really?" Tails said, sounding sad.

"Aww, don't be too sad Tails," Carrie said, smiling at Tails. "I've learned more about the person who wants to kill me in the last couple days than I have in the last nine years. I finally know his name. Every little bit of progress helps, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right," Sonic said.

"Speaking of progress," Carrie said, turning to Sonic. "What are you gonna do, now that you've gotten me here?"

"We're gonna go looking for our own home."

"Where are you going to stay? You're only two kids you know, with no parents..."

"We'll be fine. We can take care of ourselves. Come on! If you've been able to take care of yourself since you were nine, I think we can do it too."

"That is true," Carrie said, an embarrassed smile on her face. However, it quickly faded. "But are you sure you'll be fine all alone? This world is a dangerous place, with Robotnik running around."

"I don't think Robotnik's that tough," Sonic said with a laugh. "My dad and his dad put him in jail one time, remember? We could probably take him."

"Hee, maybe you could."

Tails gave both of them a worried look, his ears drooping down slightly.

"Is something wrong Tails?" Carrie asked.

The look quickly vanished off of Tails' face, as if it had never been there, while his ears flicked back up instantly. He simply said, "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Carrie said, taking a step towards Tails.

"Yes, I'm sure," Tails said. He put a smile back on his face, although it looked a little forced. "Don't worry about it."

Carrie decided not to press the issue, and instead said, "Okay then. Whatever you say."

Suddenly, a robin wearing an expensive looking robe came striding out through the front door of the hotel. The bird's clothes and face looked about as vibrant as the hotel he had just stepped out of. He walked over to the fox, hedgehog, and wolf with a smile on his face.

"Carrie, is that you?" he quickly said.

"Yes it is, Mr. Olandra," Carrie said back. "Your savior, heh."

"Good, good! You made it here safely," he said with a broad smile. "I was afraid that the assassins you told me about would get you before you made it here. Don't worry though, because you'll be safe here. I've got a false identity lined up for you even, with the papers and everything."

"Thank you sir, but aren't you giving me an awful lot?"

"Oh don't worry about it Carrie! You saved my life back in that city in the desert! What was it called again? Nerilo? Anyway, without you, I would have been dead, and all of my hard work in running this hotel would have been for nothing. I owe you so much," He said. He then noticed Sonic and Tails with her. "Ah, I didn't see these two at first. Who are they?"

"My name is Sonic," Sonic quickly said, shaking hands with Mr. Olandra.

"And my name is Tails," Tails said.

"I see. Are they friends of yours?" the robin asked.

"They are. Those assassins almost got me a couple times, but these two kept me safe."

"But...they're just children!"

"They're more than children. They're the sons of Swift Hedgehog and Kyle Prower, the heroes of the Robotnik War. I didn't believe them at first, but after seeing them take down those killers like nothing, I know they're not lying."

"Oh yes, I heard about that from a guest who arrived here from Rotisiv early this morning. She said two little kids took out two criminals running around with a lot of scary human technology. So you two did that? I'm impressed!"

"Thank you," Sonic said.

"Well, anyway," Mr. Olandra said, turning back to Carrie. "I've got your room waiting upstairs for you to look at. Want to go up and see it now?"

"Sure," Carrie said. She turned to look back at Sonic and Tails. "Do you two wanna come?"

"No thanks," Sonic said. "Me and Tails need to get going."

"Can't we stay with Carrie a little longer?" Tails asked.

"We've been with her long enough, Tails," Sonic said, in a strangely authoritative voice. "She doesn't need us anymore, now that we've gotten her here. It's time for us to move onto something bigger, like getting our own home. We need to get started down our own path, remember?"

"I guess you're right Sonic..." Tails said sadly.

"Cheer up Tails," Sonic said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He had a grin on his face. "We can always come back and visit later."

"Really?" Tails said, a grin forming on his face.

"Yes," Sonic said with a nod.

"That would be great!" Carrie said.

"Yeah, but right now, we need to get going," Sonic said, his tone becoming more serious. He turned to look at Carrie. "We'll see you later."

"Alright, bye then! Good luck you two!"

"Bye!" Sonic and Tails said together, waving as they walked away.

"Bye!" Carrie said, waving back to them.

They quickly rounded a corner and were soon out of sight. Carrie slowly let her arm fall back down to her side, sighing. She heard Mr. Olandra coming up behind her.

"Well, shall I show you to your room now?" he said.

"Okay," Carrie said back, her eyes still on the corner where she had last seen Sonic and Tails.

_I'll never forget about either of you, _Carrie thought. _Hurry back soon, please..._

**Somewhere in the Land of Darkness...**

A surgeon was busily stitching up the last of the cuts on his patient, the patient lying down on a table. The room was very still. The other doctors stood around quietly, anxiously watching as the last surgeon finished his work. Because, while the patient's health problems were just ending, theirs were most likely only just beginning. The patient was none other than Dr. Robotnik himself, and they weren't in a hospital, but in his newest headquarters base.

After Robotnik had gotten those nasty burns from the fight with Kyle, he had ordered his robots to kidnap a team of doctors and surgeons from the closest hospital to his base. They had succeeded, and Robotnik was quite pleased with how quickly they had worked to heal him. The plastic surgery on his upper body and face had made him look as good as new, and he had gotten the treatment done in record time.

_Fear certainly is a powerful motivator,_ Robotnik thought as he grinned.

The surgeon finally finished his work, and with a nervous voice said, "All...all right...Mr. Robotnik. I've finished patching up the rest of your wounds. You...should make...a full recovery..."

Robotnik chuckled a bit, since he knew it was totally against the doctor's will to help him in any way. The fat human slowly went into a sitting up position on the table, using his arms for balance. He smiled as he looked at the group of doctors before him, while they looked back. Some had terrified looks, while others looked at him like they'd gut him with the surgical tools in their hands. Too bad for them though that several robot soldiers were standing in the room, in case the doctors decided to put that bright idea into action. Robotnik gave out a deep yawn.

He then said, "Well, you all did a marvelous job patching up my wounds. Thank you all for your hard work. Is there anything you need to tell me that I should know about this surgery?"

After a moment of no responses, Robotnik slid off of the table.

"I'm sure you're all wondering what I'm going to do with you now that I'm healed again," he said, pacing the room. "Do not worry, because I am not going to roboticize you."

He heard both surprised murmurs and sighs of relief rise up from the group of surgeons. While some were obviously quite relieved that Robotnik wasn't going to use the now infamous roboticizer on them, others were still worried about what he would probably do instead.

"Instead, I'm simply going to release you."

All of the doctors appeared incredibly surprised. They looked like schoolchildren who had suddenly learned that the school year was going to end a month earlier than usual.

"Why?" a bat doctor said. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

"No no, I'm certainly not joking," Robotnik said, shaking his head. "However, do not get me wrong. This is not an act of mercy. You're only being let go because it doesn't matter at all if you live, die, or get roboticized. Now that both Swift Hedgehog and Kyle Prower are dead, your armies will be crushed as easily as the human army was six years ago. There's nothing left that can stop me. I don't even care if you tell the government where this base is."

A shark-like grin crossed Robotnik's face.

"In fact, I _want_ you to go tell everyone you can that my base is here. The human and Freedomian armies would come here, and it would spare me the trouble of having to go out and hunt them down myself. So go on, get out of here! Do it before I order my soldiers to shoot you!"

The doctors hurried out of the room as the soldiers stationed around the room levered their laser rifles at them. He could hear the excited cries of the doctors as they ran down the hallway. Obviously they were too happy thinking about their own freedom to care about anything else.

_Enjoy your freedom...while it lasts... Without Swift or Kyle alive, Planet Freedom is as good as mine. Kyle saying his brat kids Sonic and Tails could kill me was nothing more than an idle threat, the words of someone at the end of his line. Has he still forgotten what I told him six years ago? This is only the beginning! _

On the exterior of the mountain base, rock walls collapsed as cannons sprouted from the surface like poisonous weeds. Massive hangar doors rolled open at the base of the rocks, unleashing hundreds, maybe even thousands of vehicles. Trucks, tanks, and aircraft moved out, the combined noise of their thundering engines making them seem like an avalanche devouring everything in its path. A heavily armored command post sprouted from the peak of the mountain, Robotnik seated in a massive leather chair inside it and overseeing the entire force.

_Kyle was a fool to try to stop me. All he did by throwing his life away was buy Planet Freedom a few more days of peace. Long after his smoldering corpse is thrown into a grave, the Robotnik Empire will still remain. It will become immortal! And now, it is time to take the first steps towards the new era... _

"Let Robotnik War II begin!"

**The End**


End file.
